A Glint of Gold
by oopspro
Summary: Is this a new power? Danny's powers have increased since he revealed himself to the world but with the return of a villain from his past tax his abilities to their limit or will he have to look deep inside himself to face his worst fear, an unbeatable foe. Has something new been hiding inside Danny all along that will lead him to victory? Read and review to keep Danny alive.
1. Chapter 1

A GLINT OF GOLD

(Author's notes: This fanfic is biased on a slight color glitch during the end of the first Ember episode where Danny's eyes begin to glow meant to signify his determination to stop her evil plans and gain vengeance for putting him through the heartache she dealt him. His eyes glow a gold color rather than their regular green shade.

I do not own Danny Phantom or its related materials.)

The past:

Standing at the side stage gazing at Sam, who had just kissed Dash, and now apologized for hurting him, he only vaguely heard her. His heart felt as if it had imploded in his chest and it hurt far more than any punch or kick ever could have. He wanted to crawl into the deepest darkest hole that the earth possessed and die. He wanted to fade away.

Then he looked out at the crowd, all chanting mindlessly the name "Ember", and other people whom he had never met were doing the same all over the world. Finally his eyes landed on Ember McLane, and he could almost see the well of energy that she was feeding from. He forgot his broken heart and was filled with a righteous sense of Justice.

His first truly selfless act, and his eyes, for just a moment, flashed a brilliant gold.

The Present:

The chase was on. Honestly, Danny had been thinking of just inviting the Box Ghost to join the team for years. He didn't put up much of a challenge but he gave Danny a really good cardio workout. The Box Ghost would have made a great personal trainer. As it was they were speeding around the city, and Danny was catching up. He'd been training hard since they had saved the world, and things had gone back to normal or at least as normal as they had been before the meteor. Once again ghosts were escaping the Ghost Zone to get to the 'Real' World.

The only real difference was that, with the whole world aware that Danny Fenton is Danny Phantom, he didn't have to worry about keeping his secret or explaining his absences during day and night.

"Danny?"

"Huh?" Danny was drawn from his thoughts by Sam over the two-way communicator, a neat little device created by his sister, plugged into his ear, "What's up Sam?"

"Uh, have you caught the Box Ghost yet? It usually doesn't take this long, and Grandma wanted to take us out for dinner, remember?"

Danny stopped and looked about him. He'd lost the Box Ghost when he was in his own thoughts. Everything else could wait, but not Sam. Since he had realized how he felt about her he had let nothing stand between them.

"Sorry Sam, I seem to have lost him, but, really, it's the Box Ghost, what harm could he do? Maybe I should let him go just this once?"

"Beware!," Yelled a voice from behind Danny.

Danny rubbed the back of his neck and smiled, knowing what he would find when he turned around, "Never mind Sam, give me 15 minutes and I'll meet you back at your place, k?"

"K, Love you."

He still loved hearing that, "Love you, too."

Slowly Danny turned and faced the Box Ghost.

"I am the Box Ghost! Beware!" The Box Ghost said again. A sort of self styled catchphrase he'd used since their first encounter.

Danny looked back at him with amusement, "Look, here's the deal, I have somewhere to be. So, I can either, beat you to a pulp and shove you into the Fenton thermos and, eventually, dump you back into the Ghost Zone, or, if you promise to behave, I can let you go tonight and we can pick this up again tomorrow. What do you say?"

The Box Ghost contemplated this for a moment then, with a slightly dejected tone, replied, "Oh-kay."

The Box Ghost slowly floated away, and then, once he was far enough, shouted back his final word on the subject, "Beware!"

Danny couldn't help but let out a little laugh.

Taking off himself, he sped towards Sam's place at top speed. Now that he had a chance to explore his abilities he found that he was able to progress far quicker than he had been. He was well on his way to honing them down to an art form.

To start with, his speed had doubled and he could travel at nearly 200 miles per hour while solid before friction became a problem, and when intangible he could reach faster than Mach 1, his ghostly wail could now shake a mountain to pieces, he could freeze a lake solid, his ectoplasmic energy blasts could be reduced to a micron or enlarged to 6ft without losing intensity, he could even change his appearance, and, he had mastered making duplicates, which got him through the last year of high school, and was making college much easier.

Sure, with the whole world and Amity Park in his debt he could have just sat back and saved the world for a living. Few places in town didn't at least offer their services for free, but he insisted on paying. It had been his determination, and willingness to do the right thing that had gotten him where he was and he didn't want any of that to change. So he had finished high school on his own merit, and some tutoring from Mr. Lancer and his sister Jazz, and during the summer he had found a job with a local construction company. He figured that he could help build up what he damaged while battling the ghosts that still popped up from time to time, and it would help to work out his human side, which wasn't his stronger side. By the Fall he'd actually bulked up enough to go from slim to medium build and he felt good about that. He also felt good when he enrolled in college, mostly online courses with a few night classes, for a teaching degree. He still had a passion for aeronautics and space travel, but he knew that it wasn't meant to be, at least not in any conventional sense. As long as he had his powers he would need some flexibility and, more over, he wanted to stay in Amity Park.

He couldn't always be everywhere, but he did want to always be where Sam was.

Danny touched down outside of the 2 story brownstone shop where Sam worked and lived. After high school she had planned on pursing a literary major, still not sure what she wanted to do with her life, and it had been her mother's idea to open a bookstore that combined her love of the Gothic and the unseen world by selling ancient tomes of lore along with contemporary works of gothic fiction, in not so many words (actually what she had said was, "How about a bookstore with those grungy books and those old ones that you like?"). Sam had debated the idea with Danny on a long walk through Amity Park. She felt, deep down, that it was a good idea and something that she actually wanted to do, but she was frightened of what might happen if she couldn't make it work. When Danny thought about it, it was the only thing he could see her doing and being happy about, and he told her so. He also told her that if it didn't work out that it wouldn't change who she was or how he felt about her but if she didn't at least try then she would always wonder about how it could have been.

They stopped then, so she could kiss him for being so sweet, and when they had looked around, to figure out where they were, she saw the brownstone and fell in love.

It had been standing in the 50's and had probably been built in the 30's, but under it's glass store front window, covered in years worth of dust and grime, it still advertised its latest sale. As a bonus the second story was a spacious apartment. She had rushed back to her parents and told them all about, and the next week they, Sam, Tucker, Danny, and the whole Fenton clan, were moving her into her new home. Her parents had simply bought the building, 'just in case' as they had said, and gave her seed money to start the book shop. Danny and Tucker had stayed the first few days, helping her get things ready with the store and apartment. It had felt like a sleep over from the old days. When they weren't working they would watch movies and share stories until the early morning. Tucker eventually had to leave, he was still the mayor and had surprisingly won a landslide victory on the first run-off election as a write-in candidate, but Danny stayed behind the rest of the week to 'get the store ready to open', as he had told their parents (which was true; mostly), and with a little help from his ghost powers 'Phantom Books' was open the following week. Danny and Tucker were her first sales, but as word began to spread business picked up. By the end of the summer she had been forced to hire a full time assistant, Daisy, a short, mousey haired girl, who habitually wore an oversized sweater, and was wildly gesturing, that very moment, at Danny.

Danny had gone back to his human form, and waved pleasantly at the younger girl before he realized why she was gesturing at him. He pulled his button up shirt out of his pants and put it on. Heading for the door at side of the bookstore which led up to the apartment he waved his thanks to Daisy.

Tucking his shirt into his pants was a habit he had formed working on hot construction sites in the middle of summer, and because his Danny Phantom costume appeared on him whenever he transformed he tended to forget that he didn't have a shirt on. Sam hated it, not that she didn't like to see him without a shirt on, and it wasn't exactly jealousy; more of a sense of 'mine'. After the meteor he became famous worldwide and, apart from reporters and TV personalities wanting interviews, he began to receive letters and calls from 'fans', mostly women. They would send marriage proposals, love letters (sometimes quite explicit), articles of clothing, plane tickets, and tons of other stuff (including some pictures that he never told Sam or Tucker about). It made Sam furious that all these people who didn't even know him suddenly wanted his attention, even though he paid them no mind, and only because he was now a star. While the world wide acclaim had eventually died down, the local attention only grew and had gotten worse since he had started to bulk up, and, while Sam would never tell him that she wanted him to put on a shirt when they were out together, he hated it when she glared at the girls that happened to look at him.

He took the stairs two at a time and walked into Sam's apartment. The door was unlocked, but he had a key anyway and locked doors weren't really a problem for him anymore. Still, she knew he was coming, she knew he would use the door, and she knew him. That was all that mattered.

Sam was at her desk, at the edge of the living room its whole surface littered with papers, on the phone. Her black dyed hair hung just below her shoulders and the tips had been dyed purple. She wore a black thigh-long sleeveless dress edged, on both high neck and hem, with thick black lacework, knee high converse all-star boots, multiple bracelets on each wrist, and a dogs choker chain around her neck. Her purple eyeliner and lipstick made her seem even paler than she was. Slight spots of color showed on her checks as she motioned for Danny to give her a minute.

She was yelling at whoever was on the other end of the phone, "I said I would think it over! That's not the way things work! Things have to be researched and discussed before I can move the store or open up another Phantom Books location. Now, Stop Calling!"

She switched lines on the phone and held the pen she had stuffed behind her ear poised over a ledger, "Sorry about that, I'm putting in an order for Phantom Books. We're going to need..."

Danny listened as she rattled off textbook names; ones that they would need to have in stock before the next semester of classes started. He moved over to the couch and sat down. The living room was filled with book cases, and what little wall was left was covered with old movie posters in frames. Things like 'Nosferato' and 'Frankenstien' starring Boris Karloff, but over the TV, on the wall, was a gilded frame was a small picture, a copy of which had once lined the back of his locker. A picture was of him, Sam, and Tucker taken just before high school, not long before the accident that gave him his powers. Sam had tons of pictures of the three of them in albums under the TV, but only one other one was displayed. On the desk, where she could see it every day, was a picture taken of her and Danny at the senior prom.

Sam finished her phone call, walked over, and fell into Danny's lap. He put his arms around her and she kissed him.

They broke their kiss after a good few minutes and Sam leaned her head back, lovingly, on his shoulder. She sighed contently, "I guess work never ends for either of us, huh? So, what happened with the Box Ghost?"

"I let him go." Danny said, nonchalantly.

"Why?"

Danny smiled and shrugged, and held Sam a little tighter, "Well, it's the Box Ghost. He's never been much of a threat, and there's always tomorrow. Besides, I'm beginning to think that he just likes the chase."

"Oh, I see." Sam laughed, "Thought I might get jealous?"

Danny laughed back, "Maybe."

Sam playfully slapped his chest. He gently raised her face to his and caught her eye.

"What's this about moving the store?"

Sam laid her head back against his shoulder and closed her eyes, "Oh, that. That guy has been calling everyday about having to go so far to get to the store. He keeps saying that we'd do even more business if we moved to his town. I'd never move the store but, since we started carrying textbooks, the volume of business we've gotten has got me thinking about maybe opening a second location, you know, letting Daisy run one to explore a more various selection, and getting back to the kind of stuff I like here, and text books still, of course."

"What's stopping you?" Danny asked resting his cheek on her hair and getting a good whiff of her berry shampoo.

Sam smiled, "Money, of course. I've almost saved enough to pay back my parents and buy the building from them. Once I do that I can think about opening up a second shop."

"I get it, but I'm sure your parents wouldn't mind you take a little longer to pay them back for the shop and the building. They approved of me didn't they?"

"Yeah and that only took you saving the world." Sam said laughing, "They've done so much to get me started, I just want them to know that they did well on their investment."

Danny raised her head to his and kissed her softly on her lips, "You're not an investment; you're their daughter. I understand through, you'll pay them back, buy the building, and when you do open the second Phantom Books it will be just as good as when you opened this one."

"You always know what to say." Sam reached up and tweaked his nose.

Danny stood up, lifting Sam as he did.

"Maybe so but my timing isn't always the best. Take how long it took me to tell you how much you mean to me, or," Danny continued over the rumble of his stomach, "how long its taken to remember dinner."

Sam looked down at the watch hidden among the many bracelets on her wrist and let out a little squeal. She hoped down from Danny's arms and went to grab her coat.

"Oh, shoot we're supposed to meet Grandma at the restaurant in 15 minutes!" Sam said, beginning to panic, grabbing keys from a peg on the wall next to her coat.

"How about I fly us there?"

Sam threw him a look, "Oh no, and what will I do if you get called off after dinner?"

It had only happened once, but she really didn't want it to happen again.

A mischievous grin passed Danny's lips, "How about a compromise?"

"This is soooooooooooo much worse than walking home!" Sam screamed as she held, white knuckled, to the steering wheel.

"I thought you liked to fly."

"With you, I like to fly with you! Not in my car!" Sam screamed out of the window of her all-black 1975 VW Beetle convertible as it sped through the cities by-ways a clear 70ft above all other traffic.

Danny's mischievous smile had returned with a vengeance, "Look at what great time we're making and think of how easy it will be to park."

In only ten minutes they made it across town in stop and go traffic, or rather over it, and, phasing through the ground, he touched the car down night across from the restaurant. Sam opened the door and got out of the car on shaky as Danny came out of the sidewalk and transformed.

Propped against the car Sam looked seriously, "Well, if you don't make it as a teacher, you could always set up one Hell of an amusement park ride."

"Oh, HA HA." Danny replied, holding out an arm for her to take.

She took his arm and together they walked into the restaurant.

It was a small but expensive French restaurant, called 'Le Fuer', and they immediately felt uncomfortable. They were far too underdressed, Danny especially, and even the wait-staff stared at them as they walked in the door. The young girl, wearing a black silk evening gown, making the seating arrangements made it even more obvious with a look of simple contempt. Duty seemed to come before disgust in her alphabet because, instead of simply asking them to leave, she asked, with an air of superiority, "Do you have a reservation?"

Before Danny or Sam could even answer, a small nervous-looking, balding, squat man with a waxed mustache and wearing a tuxedo came scurrying from the other side of the long dinning room and pushed the girl out of the way.

"May I help you?" He asked, in a tone that oozed pleasantness.

The young girl was mystified, "Sir?"

He turned to her angrily, and spoke in hushed tones that everyone could hear, "Don't you know who that is?"

He made a heroic attempt at mimicking the statue that stood in front of city hall; it was almost laughable. It took a second for the girl to understand but when she did it was plainly visible on her face. She turned to Danny in shocked awe and he gave her a little wave. She returned his wave, realized that she hadn't needed to, and walked into the kitchen. The little man in the tux straightened his wax mustache and turned back to Danny and Sam.

"Can I offer you our best table, sir? And, of course, you and your lady friend may have anything form our menu free of charge." He beamed.

Danny raised an eyebrow at Sam, who gave him an elbow to the ribs, and he turned back to the man, "Thank you, but that won't be necessary. We're meeting someone here and we'll be paying for our own meals like everyone else, but thank you for the offer."

"Sir is too generous." The little man said, generously grateful that his offer of free food had been turned down, and put his finger to the seating chart, "And whom might the gentleman and lady be dining with this evening?"

From clear across the room a voice blasted out to them, "Hey kids! Come on over here and let me look at you!"

The little man's eyes nearly escaped his skull as they wondered off to where Sam's grandmother was sitting. Danny loved Sam's Grandma for many reasons, but at that moment he loved her most for her ability to just know. She was dressed down as much as Sam and Danny, in a simple skirt and button up sweater, and, even though she would never have admitted it, she had known that neither of them would come dressed appropriately, so she didn't either to make them feel more comfortable.

They both gave her a hug and sat down. Danny grabbed a slice of French bread from a basket in the middle of the table, and went about settling his growling stomach.

"Thanks for inviting us out Grandma." Sam said.

Danny added his thanks around a piece of bread.

"Oh; its nothing. I hardly ever see you kids these days, you're always so busy, and its nice to spend some time with you." Sam's Grandma said, cheerfully, "How are you two doing?"

"Sam's thinking of opening a second location for her bookstore." Danny said, looking over at Sam with a smile.

She came back with, "And Danny's letting ghosts go through town unsupervised."

Sam's Grandma smiled at the two, "That sounds nice dears, but what I really want to know is when you two are going to be settling down. I want to hear the pitter patter of little feet one more time before I kick the bucket."

Sam was mortified, "Grandma!"

Danny slipped a hand into hers, "I've been thinking about that too."

Sam blushed with embarrassment, but Danny looked at her with a brilliant smile and gave her hand a squeeze.

"Well, you already gave her a ring." Sam's Grandma said pointing to the ring he had given her years before during the meteor incident. The one with her name engraved inside, which she had read as 'Wes' when she first saw it. It was the only ring that she currently wore.

Danny reached into his pocket and fingered the box that he had been carrying around all week, "Yeah, but I want to get something a little more special."

Sam's Grandma, clapped her hands, and, with a good natured laugh, said, "Good, only the best for my Sam-kins."

"Grandma!" Sam busted again and put her hand up to hide her face from the people still staring at them.

The conversation continued on in this manner until the food arrived, as it turned out Sam's Grandma had ordered for them and paid in advance. They protested at first, but when they were thankful when they found out that the simple meal was almost $100 per person. The conversation dipped as they ate, and then turned to more mundane topics. Sam talked about the book store, coming events planned, the strange books people requested, Daisy (who she had caught, quickly, reading the Twilight books), and her plans for the future of Phantom books. Danny amused them with job site anticdotes, filled Sam's Grandma in on what was going on in his family (Jazz taking on a dual doctorate in Psychology and Electronics, and his parents trying to get a TV show by putting videos of themselves and their exploits in ghost hunting on YouTube, which turned into more of an 'America's Home Videos' gag reel), and avoided talking about his own adventures. Then Sam's Grandma told them how she was passing her time. She said that they called it 'Extreme Bingo', which consisted of a communal bucket list that they marked off as they completed. Some of the seniors had decided to treat it like a regular 'Bingo' game but she wanted to fill out the card.

"But Grandma isn't that dangerous?" Sam asked, concerned.

"Sure, but that's what makes it fun." Sam's Grandma explained, "At my age I need at least a little danger just to keep my heart pumping."

She suddenly turned to Danny, "Speaking of age, Danny you're a man now. Do you still plan to go by Danny?"

Danny moved his head side to side, noncommittally, "Well, it's never really bothered me either way, and all the guys at the job site call me 'Dan' anyway. Whichever people want to call me is fine, as far as I'm concerned."

Sam wrapped her arms around his neck, "You'll always be Danny to me."

"And to me, as well." A voice, unfamiliar and yet familiar at the same time, spoke from behind them, followed by a blast of energy.

On instinct Danny lifted Sam out of her chair, a fraction of a second before it was disintegrated, threw the table up onto it's side as a blockade, and raised a shield of ectoplasmic energy, one of the abilities that he had learned to tap while in his human form though it wasn't as powerful as when he went 'ghost'.

The blasts kept coming and Danny did all that he could to hold them back, but it was taking a toll. Doing all he could to concentrate, he edged over and took a peek at his enemy. Black and red, a flowing cape, and lots of black and red, but no one he immediately recognized.

Sam crawled up behind him, "Who is it?"

"I" Danny, began to sweat with the strain on his ectoplasmic shield, "I don't know."

The unknown villain laughed heartily, still blasting away, "Oh, son, you still haven't figured out yet?"

The floor around them explored and Danny shielded the three of them from the brunt of the blast.

"I was exiled from this world when you caused me to be exposed to the world." The villain ranted, steadily turning the restaurant into a wooden work of found art.

"Vlad Plasmius?" Sam and Danny said in unison.

"The former mayor?" Sam's Grandma added.

"That's right whelp, it is I, Vlad Plasmius!" Vlad took a moment to gloat, which gave Danny a second to recuperate and look his enemy over.

"What the Hell happened to you?" Danny asked.

He was covered in a black outfit lined with red, a flowing black red-lined cloak, red tinged skin, slicked back hair, and horns.

Vlad resumed his barrage, "I've ascended! I am far beyond anything you could wish to achieve, child!"

"I don't know how much longer I can hold this up!" Danny conceded; sweat pouring off of him in sheets.

"You've got to 'go ghost'!" Sam yelled at him.

"No!" Danny felt righteous anger began to fill him up, "I'll have to drop the shield to 'go ghost' and that will leave you and Grandma unprotected."

"Danny..." Sam began.

He turned to her, "I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

"Danny? Your eyes are glowing." Sam said, concerned.

"They always glow when I use my Ghost powers." He replied.

"No Danny," Sam shook her head, "Your eyes are glowing gold."

(Final thoughts: I think that this is a fitting continuation of the Danny Phantom storyline and hope that you enjoy it as much as I do, but that goes without saying as I wrote the piece. I plan to add one more chapter to this story but I leave it to you, the reader, to decide if it will continue after that. My continuing of this story will be solely determined by the reader response. I am looking for a total of 10 reviews. If I make that mark I will continue on a basis of 5 responses per chapter to keep it going. I do this not out of spite but because I am rather busy and this is a long piece. I have three other ongoing projects and a 80 hour a week or more job so I really don't have much time to cram in something new but what I have so far has been ratting around in my head for awhile and I wanted to share it with you.

I hope you enjoyed the piece and will continue to read this and the other things I have posted. Thank you for your time and patience.)


	2. Chapter 2

Glint of Gold

Chapter 2

(Author's notes: I want to first thank everyone who read the first chapter of 'Glint of Gold' and a special 'Thank you' to the people that gave me reviews as I was very surprised to find that I reached my quota of 10 reviews within the first three days of the story being posted. I never thought that you would double my views in only a few days. Pat yourselves on the back because I'm in for a third chapter.

I also wanted to address a question that was posted in a review. I wanted to keep the timeline loose so Danny and the others are between the ages of 19 and 22.

Okay, and now that I've taken up all of your time on with the story. I don't own Danny Phantom or related properties.)

Sweat poured from Danny's face with the strain of keeping up his shield as Vlad blasted away hap-hazardly, laughing madly the whole time. With the constant barrage of deadly blasts any break in his concentration would collapse his shield and leave Sam, her grandmother, and himself vulnerable to Vlad's attacks and he couldn't have that.

"Danny you've got to 'Go Ghost'!" Sam pleaded him with her eyes, seeing how much he was struggling with the strain he was under.

"No, I'll have to drop the shield to 'Go Ghost' and that would leave you and Grandma vulnerable." He couldn't look at her directly, knowing the futile desperation he would see there because he shared the feeling, even though he would gladly gave his life for theirs a hundred times over.

"Danny..." Sam began as she began to notice a curious thing that had started to happen. From the deepest depth of Danny's eyes a golden glow began to eminate and steadily engulfed his cornea. When he looked up at her his eyes were glowing gold and still growing in intensity, and Sam felt a strange sense of calm and wellbeing came over her.

"I'm not going to let anything happen to you!"

"Danny?" Sam said meekly as the tranquility washed over her, "Your eyes are glowing."

Danny had no idea what she was trying to drive at, "They always glow when I use my Ghost powers."

"No Danny" Sam said, shaking her head, "Your eyes are glowing gold."

Her mystified appearance and the strangeness of what she said threw him off guard, and a stray blast hit him square in the shoulder. The blast knocked him forward into Sam and he just barely managed to keep them from falling to the ground as he put his shield back up.

The blast had tore through his shirt and charred the skin underneath. Danny could feel the damage that the blast had done to his shoulder and he knew he wouldn't be able to hold out much longer against the pounding that Vlad was giving his shield.

"Let me see!" Sam said, franticly trying to turn Danny around. Danny grasped her firmly by her shoulders and held her steady.

"No, Sam, I can't let you do that." Danny told her with a tone as firm as his grip.

Tears welled up in her eyes and she pleaded with him, "Danny you have to stop this; you're killing yourself!"

"If that's what it takes to keep you safe, I'll take it."

Vlad continued to laugh madly over the sounds of his inflicted destruction, "I guess that this won't be the epic final battle I was hoping for but if the 'mighty' Danny Phantom chooses to go down with a whimper rather than a scream, it seems only fitting to me, for as fate had decided long ago, dear boy, you are to fall to the far superior, Vlad Plasmius!"

More peals of laughter, and Danny was tired of it. No matter what, he had to get Sam and her grandmother out of there.

He cupped Sam's cheek and then ran his hand through her hair. She knew what he was going to say and tears that had welled up in her eyes began to run freely down her cheeks. She pulled his hand back to her cheek and leaned against it.

"No!"

Danny sadly shook his head and wiped away a tear with his thumb, "There's no other way. You and Grandma have to get out of here. I can't risk losing you."

Tears streamed down Sam's face and she tightly closed her eyes, "No, I'm not leaving you here to die!"

Danny brought her face up to his and kissed her. He treated her with a brilliant smile, through his heart wasn't in it.

"I'm half ghost. I don't even know if I can die."

He faced the laughing madman and looked back at Sam.

"I'm going to spread my shield out and rush him, when I do take Grandma and get out of here as quickly as you can." He told her. Sam wiped away her tears and nodded her understanding.

"I love you, Sam."

"I love you too, Danny Fenton."

He turned back to Vlad, ready for the ultimate sacrifice, and sent up a little prayer for Sam.

"Okay, get ready."

Then something strange happened.

The ceiling above Vlad began to creak and groan as if under considerable strain. The noise was so loud that even Vlad stopped what he was doing to listen. The groaning and creaking rose steadily, heading towards a crescendo of sounds. Just as it seemed that the noise couldn't grow any louder a crack broke the noise apart.

Looking up, directly above him, Vlad saw the plaster of the ceiling began to come apart at an incredibly fast rate.

"Oh no." He commented.

A large, industrial, metal, box A/C unit came crashing down through the ceiling from the roof and slammed, full force, into the surprised Vlad Plasmius, knocking him out, and pinning him momentarily to the ground.

From the dust and debris that swirled in the air came a very recognizable voice that Danny was actually glad to hear for the first time in his life.

"I am the Box Ghost! Beware! I am master of all box shaped objects large and small!"

"Box Ghost?" Danny and Sam said in unison.

The Box Ghost turned to them and made, what he hoped was, a scary face, "Do not think that this is a sign of weakness, Danny Phantom. I am simply returning a favor. Now go before I change my mind."

Danny took the moment to 'Go Ghost' and grabbed Sam and Grandma each by a hand. He lifted them into the air and when they were on his level he spoke to the Box Ghost.

"You truly are benevolent and kind Box Ghost. Thanks."

The Box Ghost watched as Danny took off at top speed into town.

Heat from behind him caused him to turn. He watched as the A/C unit melted and finally escaped the building as a mist of vaporized metal. Vlad stood up from the debris smiling to himself and dusting off his outfit.

"Why did I ever let you live?" He asked himself as he deftly rose in the air.

The Box Ghost took off and flew directly into Vlad, who seemed to simply materialize in front of him. Vlad Plasmius placed a hand on the Box Ghost's shoulder and soon there was nothing left of him; not even ash.

* * *

"I have to give it to your parents; their paranoia about ghosts comes in handy from time to time." Sam said as she sat on top of Danny.

They were back at Sam's brownstone under the Ghost Shield that Danny's parents had insisted that they install, over Danny's protests. Danny lay face down on the couch as Sam tended to his shoulder. She was carefully pulling off charred skin with a pair of tweezers.

Danny flinched as she pulled off another large patch of tissue.

"Can't you be a little more gentle when you do that?" Danny asked, his voice muffled by the pillow under his head.

Sam laughed and moved her head down to his.

"So says the guy who was all gung-ho about sacrificing himself 20 minutes ago."

She kissed his cheek and went back to what she was doing.

"I'd do it a thousand times. I couldn't bear the thought of living without you." He said looking back up at her as well as he could.

Sam pulled off another chunk of skin.

"Ow!"

Sam leaned back down and spoke into his ear, "That won't fly Ghost-boy. You need to be more careful. I don't want to have to live without you either."

Danny realized he'd never thought of it like that. The whole time he had simply seen himself, if he really thought about it, as expendable. He would throw himself into danger with only others on his mind. It hadn't even crossed his mind what effect it would have on others.

"All done." Sam declared, pulling off the last piece of charred flesh.

Danny spun around under her and pulled her down to him.

"Hey... I still have... to disinfect... your shoulder." Sam managed to get out between Danny's passionate kisses.

* * *

Back at Fenton works, the home and workshop of Jack and Maddy Fenton (Danny's parents), everyone was in bed. The Fentons didn't quite get along with the Mansons so, without anything to say to each other that wouldn't start an argument, they had mutually decided to turn in early. Jack Fenton, as was his habit, had fallen asleep as soon as his head had hit the pillow, but Maddy was reading a journal on experimental physics by the light of a headlamp. She could hear Sam's parents talking softly next door in the guest room.

Maddy mused over the situation that they had found themselves in. Not the threat of attack, which was something that they had gotten use to over the years, but Danny and Sam. Even she and Jack hadn't been surprised when the kids started dating and they hadn't been able to figure out that their own son was the ghost boy hero of Amity Park.

They loved Sam, she'd become like a part of the family even before she and Danny began to date, but her parents were another matter altogether. They were stuffy shirts from the other side of the tracks, and the Fentons, for all their ghost hunting and inventions, were blue collar types. They couldn't get past their differences. During the holidays they would all get together, both sides, and it would be a disaster. They argued about everything. Everything except; how much they all loved Sam and Danny, and how happy they were that Sam and Danny were happy.

Now they were stuck in a house with the Mansons, under the safety of the ghost shield, for an undetermined amount of time. In the movies it would have been the perfect plot device to force the two sets of parents together for them to find common interests and overcome their differences. In the real world, that sort of thing didn't happen. At least she hoped that it didn't.

Maddy put down the journal and turned off her headlamp. She was too caught up in her disgust for Sam's mother to finish it. The thought of the two of them paling around was going to give her nightmares. Too bad they couldn't develop a shield to keep the Mansons away.

If the Mansons had simply allowed them to install a ghost shield of their own they wouldn't have been in this mess in the first place. As long as they were they would have to make the best of it. At least they were safe as long as the ghost shield was up.

Maddy lay down on the bed and turned toward the window to watch the soft pulsing green light of the ghost shield. It wasn't there. The ghost shield wasn't on. They weren't protected. She sat up quickly in bed and looked around calculating how quickly she could get to a weapon. She punched Jack.

"Jack, wake up! The shield is down!"

Jack mumbled and pulled the blanket up around him. He'd be no use.

She slid out from under the covers and headed for the closet where she kept an extra collection of ghost fighting weapons behind her jumpsuits.

"Boo!"

Maddy leapt back away from the closet and landed, cat like, feet away. Vlad stepped out of the closet laughing. He bared his fanged teeth in a hideous smile.

"Well hello Maddy. Long time no see, my love." Vlad said sashaying into the bedroom and giving her a slight bow, "Thoughts of our reunion kept me warm during my long trek through space. How long I've waited for this moment."

"Are you trying to make me vomit?" Maddy asked, the harsh taste of bile eating at the back of her throat.

Vlad raised his hand and it was engulfed by flame as he slowly pointed it in her direction, but his smile and congenial manner never dropped.

"I guess that none of these reunions will go the way I had planned. Never the less, dear Maddy, once I have disposed of Jack and Danny you will be mine." Vlad's smile broadened, "Whether you want to or not."

His hand began to burn brighter and brighter, and Maddy felt only despair.

* * *

Danny woke up in a cold sweat and rose from the tangle of bed sheets. He sat up and tried to steady his breathing. His heart pounded out an erratic beat in his chest like a monkey playing bongo drums. The sweat poured from him and he used the sheet to wipe his face.

"What's going on Danny? What's wrong?" Sam asked him.

Sam stood in the doorway to the living room rubbing at her sleep filled eyes. She stumbled over to the couch where Danny had been sleeping. She was wearing a large black t-shirt as a nightgown that was provocatively hung off of one shoulder and her hair was tussled from lying on the pillow. Danny picked up his t-shirt from the coffee table and slipped it on as Sam sat next to him.

He was still breathing hard but he was getting it under control. Sam took his hand.

"What's wrong Danny? You were screaming in your sleep."

Danny rubbed the back of his neck and gave Sam's hand a squeeze, "It was a nightmare, just a nightmare, but it's over now."

Sam laid her head on his shoulder, still mostly asleep, and closed her eyes, "What was it about?"

Danny shook his head and the last of the horrible images faded as he did, "I can't remember. It's gone now."

"Good, that means we can go back to sleep then?" Sam asked already beginning to dose off again.

Danny looked down at her and gave her a little smile, "You can. I don't think I'm going to be able to go to sleep again."

"Okay..." Sam said softly, her breathing in and out in even rhythms. She had fallen back to sleep on his arm. He scooped her up and took her to her bedroom and put her into the bed, and then he went to the kitchenette and started a pot of coffee. Something had begun to bother him. He had forgotten something important and couldn't think of what it was.

As soon as the coffee was finished brewing he poured himself a cup and walked over to the window to watch the pulsing of the ghost shield's soft green light. He looked down at the bookstore where a group of Goths who had been attending Sam's weekly 'Witching Hour' poetry reading, an event she wouldn't have missed but had been too tired after the events of the day to attend, were cautiously making their ways out of the ghost shield to their cars across the street. Danny found himself chuckling at the reaction of those that hadn't encountered a ghost shield before. It was perfectly safe for humans to pass through, there was a slight tingling sensation created by the ionized air, but those that didn't know this fact would tentatively put a limb through first, as if playing Hokey-Pokey with the world, and try to slide through as fast as possible.

Humans could pass through unharmed. That phase struck with him. Humans could pass through. He nearly dropped his cup of coffee.

He rummaged through his pockets quickly for his cell phone and held down '2' to speed dial the number saved there. It was answered on the second ring.

"Danny?" Tucker asked his voice full of concern "If you're calling this early in the morning something must be wrong. Give me a quick 1 to 10."

"15" Danny said, not mincing words, "Vlad's back"

Tucker dropped his phone and Danny heard him curse as he fumbled it back up to his ear.

"Vlad Masters?" Tucker exclaimed, and then quickly added, "Never mind, what do you need me to do?"

Danny ran through the options in his head but there weren't many, "Shields are useless but weapons aren't, grab what you can but I need you at Sam's ASAP."

Tucker swallowed hard, "Did something happen to Sam?"

"No." Danny said looking back at the bedroom, "But I have to go. I forgot about the ghost shields and our parents are sitting ducks back at the house."

"Okay, gotcha."

Danny could hear him rummaging around.

"I need you to inform all the officials to let them know because Vlad has an axe to grind with this whole town and they need to be ready for him." Danny paused for a moment then added, "Oh, one more thing."

"Yeah?"

"Call Valerie"

At top speed it only took Danny a minute to get to Fenton works, but he was far too late. The whole building was engulfed in flames and far beyond saving by the time he got there. Numb he used ice to put the flames out and after far too long at the task he surveyed the charred husk of the building. Nothing could have survived the fire.

Danny sat down, unable to support himself, onto what had once been the spacious living room. So many memories and it had all just gone up in smoke. It had been Vlad, and it was as obvious as if he had signed his name. The melted ghost shield was all the proof Danny needed.

Vlad had done this.

Vlad.

Danny hit the button on his headset. There was a 'ding' to let him know that it was active.

"Call Jazz."

The line connected without a tone as if his sister had been waiting for the call but her voice was still full sleep.

"Danny?"

"It's time. I need 'Plan B'." Danny said, tears of rage welling up in his eyes.

She knew what he meant.

(Final thought: I was so surprised at the response that I got with this story. I was rolling around when I got a look at the traffic stats the day after I posted the first chapter and saw the 93 views that I got. I want to thank everyone because I never thought that I would get that kind of response and it gave me the boost that I needed. Maybe I can make a run at this writing thing. I especially want to thank the international readers because that came as a total surprise. I hope that you enjoy this chapter as much as the first one and I can't help but wonder how many people have gone back to watch the episode that birthed this story since I put it out.

Thank you and enjoy.)


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

(Author's notes: I was once again surprised at the volume of readership that this story has received. You've got me for another chapter as well. I'm trying to keep up with the chapters at a decent pace. So long as I continue to get your support I will attempt to release a chapter a week. Again I want to thank everyone for their readership and for all the favorites.

This chapter is a little short and rather busy but there is a lot going on to set up the next chapter which will be longer and full of action. I hope that I will answer the questions that you have from the last chapter and raise a few more. Please enjoy the third chapter of 'Glint of Gold'.

I do not own Danny Phantom or any related properties.)

"I know I just called," Tucker said, his agitation coming off more like annoyance than the crushing well of hopelessness that he felt. It had been a long night for them all, Danny and Sam more than himself, but as he drove away from Sam's brownstone into the light of the early morning sun he couldn't help but with it were yesterday when things were hectic but not crazy.

He was still in love with technology, but his PDA had gone the way of the word processor, and he touched his smart phone, in its protective pouch at his waist, reassuringly with one hand while he increased the volume of the Bluetooth system in his car, via steering wheel controls, with the other. Taking a turn he continued, "I get that it's earlier in Wisconsin, but things have gone from bad to off the wall crazy, and I figured that you needed an update."

On the other side of the line Valerie sighed. It boomed through all six of the car's speakers.

"Just spit it out Foley." Her voice boomed around the car, almost like the voice of God, "It's far too early in the morning to argue with you."

Tucker took a moment to collect himself. What he had to say wasn't easy to think about much less to say. He must have taken more time than he had thought because Valerie brought him back to the present.

"Foley!"

It slid out of Tucker's mouth like vomit, "The Fentons and the Mansons are dead."

"Who?" Valerie asked, confused, and then it hit her, "Danny's and Sam's parents? What..."

"Vlad did it." Tucker broke her off, "I'd really rather not go into the details. Suffice to say that things are worse than they had seemed. I'd have never thought that even Vlad would stoop that low."

Tucker could hear Valerie sit heavily onto something.

Valerie choked up but recovered herself, "I can't believe it. I'll be there as soon as I can."

A small piece of the tension in Tucker's chest released its hold.

"Thank you."

"Tucker?" Valerie's voice sounded so small and timid, a departure from her normal attitude that Tucker didn't know what to do but listen, "Could you check on my dad?"

He could relate to how she felt.

"Sure, it will be the second thing that I do."

"Thanks Tucker, I'll... I'll see you soon." Valerie said with a small wavery sigh.

Tucker pulled his car up next to an apartment building and hung up. He got out and purposefully strode inside and up to one of the apartments. He rung the bell and waited.

An older woman opened the door in a fluffy robe and she looked at Tucker with worry. Tucker folded himself around her, and began to shake with emotion.

"Mom, I love you."

* * *

Danny held Sam, who had been crying like that for over an hour, and felt her trembling in his arms but, as much as he wanted to be there for her, his mind was still in the burnt out husk of the Fentonworks building.

With Tucker at Sam's looking after her, Danny had taken a few hours to let it sink in before he had to tell her, but it hadn't. There was no way he could understand it, much less explain, but he couldn't just fly around the city forever. Eventually he came back to Sam's brownstone and told Tucker. Then he'd sent Tucker home. All of this had happened while Sam continued to sleep and for that Danny was glad. If she had seen him come in he wouldn't have known what to say or do. He still didn't but it had given him time to think about how to put it as he watched her sleep so peacefully. Danny slid onto the bed with Sam and she stirred; slowly waking.

"Mmmm," Sam stretched, and hugged Danny before she realized how tense he was or saw the look on his face, "Oh no, what's wrong? Danny what happened?"

He told her, but it was painful. He wasn't sure how she would take it. He thought she might scream at him, or get angry, or blame him, or wail, or want to be alone, or anything but fold herself in his arms and cry silently for hours.

Eventually she stopped shaking and Danny felt her put all of her weight against him, leaning on him for strength. As if, without him there, she would simply fold in on herself like a dying star.

Her voice came out thick and small, speaking aloud the thought that had rattled about in his own head for hours.

"What do we do now?"

Danny pulled Sam closer to him, willing her to draw energy from him, and said the only answer that came to mind, "Make them proud."

"We make our parents proud."

* * *

At a small apartment just off of the MIT campus, Jazz threw together a duffel bag full of clothes and supplies for her hasty trip back home. She was nervous. She hadn't been able to wrestle much information from her brother about what was going on but she could tell, just from the sound of his voice, that it was bad and maybe worse than it had ever been before.

A knock on the door relieved some of her anxiety, but not completely. Jazz rushed over and opened the door. Her friend rushed in around her carrying a small medical cooler.

Crystal set the cooler down on the small table in the kitchenette, and moved over to the refrigerator. She grabbed a bottle of water from it as an excuse; really she just wanted to get as far away from the cooler as she could get. It made her nervous.

"I got it for you, but it took some doing." Crystal said, taking a swig of water, "What exactly is that thing anyway?"

Jazz opened the cooler and pulled out a metal cylinder which she twisted apart. From the cylinder she pulled a tube of what seemed to be a phosphorescent blue liquid.

Crystal put down her bottle of water and gestured at Jazz.

"What are you doing? Put that thing away!" Crystal said, panicking.

Jazz found herself laughing. She held the tube up to her face and looking at Crystal through the blue liquid.

"Don't be silly. It's perfectly safe."

"Then what is it?" Crystal asked, still doubtful.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me."

Jazz replaced the tube back into the metal cylinder and placed the whole contraption back into the cooler. Then she sat down at the table. It was not the first time that someone asked her to explain one of her ghost related inventions, and it never turned out well for her. If they had seen what she had it wouldn't have seemed so outrageous, but of course they hadn't. It was pointless, but she still found herself trying.

"It's a nanobot solution." Jazz began, "I call it plan B. Essentially the nanobots feed off of the host until their programming has been completed and then they go dormant until they eventually pass harmlessly through the hosts system. In practical application they could be programmed to eat cancer cells or other unhealthy cells without need for surgery or other invasive procedures."

Jazz put her hand on the cooler and continued, "These are programmed to eat ectoplasmic energy. So they are perfectly safe for humans."

Crystal shook her head.

"Let me get this straight. Those little machines eat ghosts?" Crystal asked, in a tone that Jazz knew all too well, "You're right, I don't believe you."

Jazz was far more disappointed than she had expected to be. She was among other things, proud of this particular invention. She had created the nanobots at her brother's request. He wanted there to be a backup plan if he should ever lose control of his powers or if he should ever become more like his evil older self. These nanobots would take away his ghost abilities while leaving his human side unharmed.

Jazz slung the cooler over her shoulder and strolled to the bed where she picked up her travel bag and headed for the door.

"Hey! What's going on Jazz?" Crystal asked, rushing across the room towards Jazz, "Wait, you're serious?"

Jazz stood in the doorway and looked back at her friend.

"Yes, I am."

Jazz slammed the door behind her.

* * *

Vlad stared out into the bleak swirling expanse of the Ghost Zone and laughed. He felt like a king looking out upon his kingdom. Soon the whole of the Ghost Zone and the Earth would be under his boots. He could already feel it.

He stood at the controls of the Fenton's Specter Speeder while the machine flew ever onward into the depths of the Ghost Zone with the autopilot engaged. Different realms of the Ghost Zone zipped past as the only indicator of the vehicles true speed. He recognized some of them.

"Bothersome pests," Vlad thought, "I shall crush them all once the Ghost Zone is mine."

Once again he turned to the expansive Ghost Zone.

"It really is quite beautiful, don't you think?" Vlad said to no one in particular.

"It's a bleak and desolate hole, Vlad." Maddy began, an evil smirk climbing the side of her lip, "Just like you."

Mrs. Manson leaned over her shoulder and spoke into her ear, "Do you really think it's wise to provoke that madman?"

"Shut up." Maddy countered.

Jack, Maddy, and the three Mansons sat on the cold floor of the vehicle tied together with some of the Fenton's unbreakable ghost fishing line. Jack Fenton had some how managed to sleep through the whole ordeal and, even now, snored away as the rest of them looked on at their captor.

"Do you really think that you will get away with this?" Maddy asked.

"Hm?" Vlad mumbled, distractedly, and then turned around, "Oh, were you talking to me? I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention."

Maddy's blood began to boil. Vlad had kidnapped them, tied them up, and torched their home, and now he was treating them like nothing more important than luggage. She gritted her teeth.

"I said, 'Do you think that you will get away with this?'."

Vlad laughed and spun around one of the captain's chairs to sit in.

"Well, frankly, yes I do."

Vlad leaned back in the chair, propped up his feet on a console, and continued, "I had forgotten how resourceful and, more over, how lucky Danny can be. Years alone in space can do that to you; make you forget things I mean. I had simply calculated how powerful I am compared to him. Pity, but in the end I will overcome him no matter how much luck he has on his side."

Mr. Manson spoke up for the first time, outrage seeping from every word, "What do you want with us?"

Vlad swung his legs down and caught the man's eye.

"Why, my good man, every well laid trap needs the proper bait."

Vlad straightened up and smiled with bemused surprise.

"Oh, I see. This is the part of the story where the handsome but tragically hated super villain lets loose a laugh and explains his plan in painstaking detail to his captives. I'll save the theatrics because I'm not going to tell you my plan, but I can give you a few fun little details, if you like."

They all stared at him silently, except for Jack who continued to sleep.

"Oh, good!" Vlad exclaimed with a little clap, "I'll tell you this: I'm going to acquire some help from the Ghost Zone. Two-on-one makes for better odds on my side. To do that we'll have to visit an old friend of mine."

Maddy scowled in disgust.

"Who could possibly be **your **friend?"

Still smiling with undisguised glee Vlad swung the chair back around and checked the guidance system.

"I may have exaggerated our relationship somewhat," He told them over his shoulder, almost laughing, "But he's known as Clockwork, the ghost of time."

(Final thoughts: I have tried to get these out in a timely fashion and I appreciate the support that I have been given. Things have been pretty tough for me in the last few weeks and checking your comments and readership has been a bright point for me. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Please continue to read and comment as I have already begun work on a fourth chapter which I hope to have out within the week, but probably not before Wednesday. I'm working this story towards an amazing climax which I hope will thrill, amaze, and surprise you. Thank you for your readership and I hope that when my book comes out I will have the same success that I have had with this story. You all continue to brighten my days.)


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

(Author's notes: Been so crazy for me lately. Have been trying to keep pushing through. Will hopefully be able to keep up the pace. Thank you for your patience. Thank you for your reviews. I've fallen asleep twice while writing this so I'll get on with it.

I don't own the rights to Danny Phantom or related characters.)

"Time may change me, but I can't face Time." – David Bowe, _Changes_

Danny went through the rest of the morning as if he were swimming in a nightmare. Drained, emotionally and physically, Sam had eventually drifted back to sleep, which Danny was ambiguous about. He was glad that she wouldn't have to deal with all of the business of the day that had yet to be taken care of, but he didn't want to have to do it without her. She was his center and without her to balance him he felt emotions boiling inside him; ready to explode with a force to shatter the world.

Never the less, he walked numbly into the kitchen and made the calls that had to be made. First he called his boss and, even though he was already late, he let his boss know that he wouldn't be in. Then came, as he knew it would, the awkward conversation as to why he would be late. Danny didn't dwell on the details, but not out of a sense of secrecy, but, rather, because he didn't want to think about them himself. His boss listened silently while Danny gave him the gist of the situation. Not surprisingly he was very understanding, but he didn't offer platitudes or tell Danny sorry he was instead he simply gave Danny a piece of advice.

"Don't go and do anything stupid."

The sentiment was crude but earnest, and Danny loved the man in that moment. As he hung up, Danny found himself choked up with emotion and he made himself some toast. He wasn't hungry, but he needed something normal to counteract the sureality of the morning.

He ate his toast dry and washed it down with cold coffee preparing himself for the next call he had to make. Talking to his boss was bad enough but Daisy was a friend and Sam's assistant, and she wouldn't take the news well. She had known the Fentons and the Mansons through Danny and Sam and she was fond of them both, as they were of her. Mrs. Manson had even called her 'a good influence on Sam'. She was the closest thing to a sister that Sam had ever had. Even closer than she had become with Jazz.

Danny dialed the numbers and let the phone ring and ring. Eventually the machine picked up and Danny sighed with relief.

"Hey... uh... this is Daisy. Leave a message?"

That was Daisy in a nutshell: short, sweet, and not quite sure of herself.

Danny wasn't sure what to say, but he went on as best he could.

"Daisy, its Danny. Sam's not going to be able to open the store today. Not trying to worry you but stuff has been going on. Take the day off but if you get a chance swing by and I'll explain everything. Thanks."

He hung up the phone and prepared himself for the worst call of all. From a compartment in his wallet he pulled a folded piece of paper. He carefully unfolded it and dialed the number written on it. A teenage girl answered on the second ring.

"Hello?"

"Don't talk; just listen. Vlad's back and he is worse than he ever was before. You need to go hide somewhere as far from Amity Park as you can." Tears began to run down his cheeks but he continued, "He's coming after me first, but I'm sure you'll be next."

"Danny what happened?"

"Don't make me explain it, Dani. Just hide."

* * *

Tucker sat uncomfortably in a high-backed leather chair, at the end of a long polished oak table, in the largest of the three large conference rooms at City Hall. The other men in the room looked as uncomfortable as he felt but Tucker knew that their discomfort had only just begun. All they knew currently was that the mayor had called an emergency meeting even though it was still quite early in the morning, and Tucker had yet to tell them why.

Tucker pushed himself back from the table and stood up. He looked around the room once more and began.

"First off I would like to thank you all for coming." Someone might have had a remark on the tip of their tongue, but the complete lack of Tucker's usual care-free attitude invited an air of silence, "I realize that it is early and I appreciate you all getting here so quickly."

Tucker began to pace around the room.

"By now everyone in this room should be aware of the incidents leading up to the meteor. The numerous plots and ploys of Vlad Masters, also known as Vlad Plasmius, most of which were foiled by our home town hero Danny Phantom, including his stolen election. Many of these plots were blamed on Danny Phantom and one of my first official acts as mayor was to apologize on behalf of the city for years of mistreatment and mischaracterization.

Vlad used his abilities time after time with destructive results and endangered the citizens of Amity Park with a brazen lack of regard for the damages caused or the effects it had on people. According to the accounts given after Vlad revealed himself, and his subsequent failure to stop the meteor, we had assumed that he had gone into a self exile. We were wrong.

Last night Vlad Masters returned to Amity Park."

Tucker stopped pacing and let the words sink in. Then he hit them with the worst news of all.

"This morning he set fire to the Fenton works building. The Fentons and three other people were inside at the time. He has lost what little humanity that he may have had left, and we can only expect that he has planned something for Amity Park that is as bad or worse than the fate of the Fentons."

As the stunned silence became a cacophony of panicked voices Tucker went back to his seat. He'd have to wait for them to settle down before they could begin to discuss in earnest how they would begin to prepare themselves for Vlad.

* * *

Danny was still in the kitchen when Sam walked in. Her eyes were still puffy and red from crying, her hair was tussled form the bed, and she had put on a rust colored smoking jacket that she used as a housecoat. He had bought it for her with his first paycheck. They had been walking through a yard sale out in the countryside and she had lit up like a pinball machine. She'd tossed it around her shoulders, not caring about the layers of dust on it, and spun around. He'd laughed and told her that she looked like Sherlock Holmes.

"I know, right?" Sam had replied.

Then she had turned to him, looking almost comically serious, and held aloft an imaginary pipe.

"It's elementary, my dear Danny." She'd said in her most mysterious tone.

He'd bought the smoking jacket, without any thought about the price, and she wore it the whole way back.

He knew that the memories they had of their parents could never be replaced but the memories that he and Sam made together would help them to ease the pain. He made a silent promise to Sam that they would live life to the fullest, because he never wanted to see her like she was now ever again.

She shuffled over to him, leaned into him, and put her arms around his waist. She seemed so fragile like a china doll. He didn't want to see her like this ever again.

"Can I get a cup of that?" She asked, talking about the coffee. Her voice was thick and horse from tears and sleep.

"It's cold. You want me to warm it up?"

With her head resting on his chest he could feel her reply, "No, I just want something, you know?"

Danny reached behind him into the cabinet to grab a mug. He purposefully passed over her favorite, a mug shaped like a skull, and grabbed a large green one instead. He filled it with coffee around her and walked her to a table. They sat down and Sam took a sip of coffee. She grimaced as the bitterness of the robust brew hit her.

"I'll get the creamer." Danny said starting to get up.

"No!" Sam yelled with an over-inflated sense of panic, and he sat back down, "Don't go anywhere."

Danny saw how terrified she really was, "No Sam, I'm not going anywhere."

"You promise?" She pleaded.

He tenderly put a hand on her cheek. She was shaking like a leaf, "I promise."

Danny reached into his pocket, it wasn't what he thought of as the right place or time, but he wanted Sam to know that he would never leave her; Never. He wanted to put her at ease. He pulled out the ring box.

"Sam I'm never going to go anywhere. I don't ever want us to be apart. There is nothing in this world that I want more. Its something I've been thinking about for awhile." He looked down at the ring box and then back up at Sam, "Sam?"

A knock at the door surprised them both and Danny quickly slipped the box back into his pocket. Together they walked over to the door. Danny kept Sam behind him as he carefully opened the door. On the other side Jazz hunched over panting. She walked into the apartment around Danny and Sam, and Danny shut the door behind her.

"Okay, Danny, I don't even know how many laws I broke getting here, but now I want to know what's going on around here." Jazz demanded.

Sam grabbed Jazz and emotion overwhelmed her again.

"Oh, Jazz!"

Jazz's mind lit up like a railroad caution sign.

"Danny? What's happened?"

Danny sighed, and sat back down, "It's Vlad. He's back, and he burned down Fenton works."

He paused and waited for her to digest this information before continuing, "Mom, Dad, and the Mansons were still inside."

Jazz and Sam collapsed to the floor.

* * *

Clockwork, the ghost of Time, looked on his monitor at all of the streams of time alternating from scene to scene just as his own form fluctuated from old to young in random patterns. All of time was to him simply a book to be thumbed through at will. Nothing surprised him and the foot steps heading towards him were no exception. He knew what would happen but he didn't like it. Sometimes he had to sit back and let events unfold, even though he could change them. Clockwork turned to watch his visitor arrive.

Vlad walked into the grand hall of Time more as the owner than a visitor.

"I must say that I love the decor, very post modern," Vlad said as he moved about the room admiring the clock theme like a patron at an art museum.

Clockwork turned back to the screen and spoke to his guest without interest, "Masters, I almost wish this was a surprise, but of course it isn't. You will not have it."

Vlad pulled from the folds of his cloak a book. He flipped through a few pages, and looked back up at Clockwork. The smile on his lips was obscene with thoughts of victory.

"Who would have thought that Danny would keep such a detailed account of his adventures?" Vlad began to explain, though it wasn't necessary to the ghost of Time, because he had practiced the speech on his way through the Ghost Zone, and he loved to hear himself talk, "For all his talk of secrecy and safeguarding the truth, he wrote it all down for anyone who might look for it to find, and what interesting things are recounted herein. Who would have known the disasters that Danny would have caused, Hm? Well, you of course.

To make a long story short, Clockwork, I've read so much about you and you have something that I want."

Perturbed Clockwork turned back to Vlad with a scowl, and addressed him directly, "I do not like to repeat myself! You will not have it."

Vlad tossed Danny's dairy to the side and shrugged.

"Well after everything else since my return, I guess it would be too simple for you to just give it to me." Vlad said and rose into the air, "Then I'll just have to take it!"

Clockwork hit his stopwatch scepter.

"Time out."

Vlad stopped his mad flight midair as if frozen in time. Clockwork simply raised an eyebrow and watched. Nothing happened for awhile and Clockwork turned back to his screen. A fiery blast threw him into a nearby wall. Vlad walked up to him and bent down to dangle one of Clockwork's medallions.

"Its amazing what you can find in a young man's bedroom."

He kicked away Clockwork's scepter and made a quick job of tying Clockwork up with the Fenton's ecto-fishing line. Clockwork might control Time but he was no less powerless against the unbreakable filament than any other ghost.

"Masters," Clockwork pleaded, "This is not the path that you want to take. It leads to nothing good for you."

Vlad smiled, "I'll be the judge of that for myself."

A quick search of the grand hall gave Vlad the prize he had sought. It was a highly dented cylinder of metal with a cup shaped cap. It was a used Fenton thermos. He picked it up and stared at it in admiration.

"All the evil contained in this small container," Vlad mused, "To think that I wouldn't have known. Thank you Danny."

He pulled off the cap and hit the release.

A blinding light projected out of the thermos into the grand hall. Once the light burned out a large figure was left crouching in the middle of the hall half engulfed in smoke. Slowly the figure stood and stretched out its limbs. The figure's cape flapped and its head lit with white fire that almost looked like hair. Its eyes flashed a blood red as they trained on Vlad.

"Been a loooooooong time, Plasmius. Can't say this is a happy reunion." Dark Danny said showing his fangs, "but I have always wondered what it would be like to take you on at full power and after being cooped up in that thermos I could use a little warm up."

Vlad laughed, "I should have known you'd be just as cocky as Danny is."

Dark Danny filed the hall in front of Vlad with doppelgangers, all bearing identical lopsided grins, and in a unified voice that shook the hall with it intensity, replied, "Not cocky; sure."

Before Dark Danny could make a move a wave of fire crashed down onto the floor destroying all of the doppelgangers, and leaving Dark Danny a mess; charred, but alive. Thousands of Vlads dropped from the ceiling and one by one joined with the original. Once back together Vlad walked over and crouched over the fallen villain.

"I told you long ago that you would never beat me." Vlad taunted Dark Danny, "but you'll have your part to play."

(Final thoughts: I want to apologize to everyone for how late this chapter is. I'm glad I was able to get it out by Halloween. It has been crazy lately. I hope that this chapter is worth it. Please enjoy, and I'll try my best to have the next chapter out in the next week.

-D)


	5. Chapter 5

(Author's notes: I want to open up like I have before by thanking everyone for reading because a story would be nothing without an audience, so I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I know that I have been horrible at sticking to a deadline, it has been quite hectic with the holidays approaching and work in general, and for that I ask your forgiveness. I began this experiment with a lofty goal of 5 reviews for each new chapter and I fell short of that with the last chapter which makes this the last in the experiment, but don't worry I'm not going to stop posting this until I'm done with it because I've found that it's draw me in. I will however be moving farther back in my pile of stuff that I am doing, so I won't be posting as regularly as I have. I want to take a moment to thank DannySamLover20, ShadowDragon357, Typhexplosion, and Fluehatraya for their multiple comments and a special 'Thank you' to SamxDanny for letting me know that the tale was able to move you; that made my day.

I think I might have dwelled too long away from the action in the last few chapters and put too much emphasis on the mental and emotional, but all of that interplay of characters will be important to set up the full impact of what I hope will be quite a spectacular twist ending. This chapter is a bit of a short one but it will get us to where we need to be and move us farther towards the epic battle and eventually to the full realization of the title, 'Glint of Gold'.

For those that might be interested I will also be posting a new piece in my revisualization of Inspector Gadget titled "Once..." and will hopefully have the sixth chapter of my Venture Brothers story 'Henchman: The Revenge of 21' up in the next few weeks. Its written but still needs to be typed. My sister typed this out because I couldn't find the time and I want to thank her here, too.)

Chapter 5

In the lobby of a local garage, the break room of a bank, the car of a 9 to 5er on his way to work, the living room of a young housewife, or any of another million different places throughout Amity Park a message played. Something like this:

"We're just getting word that Mayor Foley has called an emergency press conference. We now take you live to City Hall."

Tucker approached the podium. He was nervous but he didn't want it to show. He wanted as little panic as possible and for that he would need to look strong and in charge. He needed to look like he had everything under control, but of course he didn't.

He cleared his throat and began, "As all of you know; over the last few years Amity Park has seen a major increase in spectral activity. To this end we have tried to prepare ourselves accordingly. Among these preparations was a joint venture with the Fentons to outfit Amity Park's finest with weapons and defensive measures to counteract the spectral forces. Many of these measures have also become commercially available throughout Amity Park. Last year we also instituted a spectral warning system to alert citizens of any danger that might arise from these ghosts. Ranging from yellow to black it covers all three classes of spectral entities recorded. Yellow to orange covers all Class I ghosts who are a menace and cause little property damage. Pink and Red cover all Class II ghosts, who are ghosts who will cause property damage and possibly injure civilians.

It is my great displeasure to announce that we have upgraded the cities warning to black. A Class III ghost has been seen in Amity Park. A Class III ghost has the capacity to perform large scale city damage and endanger lives. Keep in mind that this is just a warning, and we've seen very little activity from this Class III ghost. The police force is taking this threat very seriously, so there is no need to panic, but there are some measures that we would like you to follow. School has been cancelled until this situation is resolved, and we would ask that any families with small children, and the means to do so, evacuate the city for the time being as a precaution. This is not an evacuation but a precaution. I would ask everyone else to stop by any store that sells Fenton products and pick up a ghost preparation flyer and follow its instructions, and anyone who wishes to volunteer with a ghost preparedness team should stop by one of police stations or municipal buildings and sign up.

Again I want to state that there is no need to panic. We have plans in place for this exact situation and people who lose their heads right now are more likely to hurt themselves than to be hurt by any ghost. The more people panic, the more the police and city officials are spread out, and the more spread out everyone is the less prepared we are if a threat were to be realized.

Thank you."

Journalists tossed out back to back questions but Tucker simply walked away. After a moment programming went back to normal with Anchors letting people know that they would update people on the situation as information became available.

* * *

"He's getting pretty good at that," Valerie said from Sam's couch where she and Danny sat. Daisy, Jazz, and Sam were in her bedroom.

Danny couldn't have drawn himself into the couch further than he was and he had his feet far under the coffee table.

"Tucker had a lot of practice over the past few years. Taking care of Amity Park is an important job for both of us."

Valerie shot a dirty look, and Danny sighed. The last thing he needed, today of all days, was yet another argument about her moving to Wisconsin.

"Ugh!" Danny groaned and lolled on the couch, "I didn't mean it like that."

Valerie put her hand to her head, "I know, I know. Just off kilter like everyone else."

"Someone had to deal with mess Vlad left over there and no one blames you for it." Sam said from over his shoulders.

Danny jumped up from the couch and rushed to her. He kissed her like he hadn't seen her in years.

"Are you okay?" He asked tenderly.

She sighed and rested her head on his chest listening to his heart beat.

"No, I'm exhausted, I'm homesick, but more than all that I'm mad at Vlad for coming back and bringing all of his evil back into our lives. Just when everything was beginning to seem normal again." She whispered. "And I'm worried what will happen next."

Skulker phased through a wall with the help of Ember. Both ghosts were battle worn, with Skulker looking to have taken the most of the damage, and as Ember touched down on the floor she nearly went to her knees. Sam caught her and Danny pulled Skulker all but dead weight off of her. Together they led the ghosts over to the small kitchen table and sat them down.

Ember looked up at the group and held tightly to the remains of her guitar, like a child clinging on to the safety afforded by a favorite stuffed toy, and said weakly, "We can tell you what happens next."

"Vlad takes over the Ghost Zone." Jazz cut in and took her medical cooler from near the door to the kitchen table.

Ember turned to her and continued, "Exactly, and he's making quick work of it, too. He caught us by surprise but some of us weren't even that lucky. They never even saw it coming. He's already wrecked half of the Ghost Zone and other ghosts are flocking to him so they don't get destroyed. He's unstoppable. He's too powerful for us to handle."

"Then you two didn't just make it here on your own." Danny stated, his eyes flashing green, smelling a trap.

Skulker spoke up but his voice amplification unit must have been damaged during the battle that had left him in his current shape because his speech was full of audio distortions, and feedback and static ran behind his words, "No, Plasmius let us go."

"Why?"

Skulker pressed one of the many buttons on his forearm and said, in his mangled voice. "To deliver a message."

Light projected out of somewhere in Skulker's forearm and standing on the table was a miniature hologram of Vlad Plasmius. Though no larger than a Barbie doll the miniature Vlad oozed evil glee. It turned to look at Danny as if he had been in the room when the message was recorded.

"Oh, hi Danny." It said, "I'm sure that by now you are racked by guilt and greif over the untimely death of your parents, but of course, knowing you as I do dear boy, you have no doubt pushed all that aside to console your little girlfriend, the Goth girl."

Danny looked at Sam guiltily.

"But I digress," the recording continued, " I wasn't convinced that some of your lamer enemies beaten to a pulp and sent after you would be enough to get you coming to me so I took out some insurance."

The mini-Vlad moved aside to show Sam's grandmother, parents, and the Fentons tied together behind him before continuing, "As you can see your parents are very much alive and I would imagine you would want them to stay that way. Well, that'll depend on you. Just head for the Ghost Zone I'm sure that any of my new minions will send you my way. See you soon."

The image of Vlad blipped off and the light went out.

Sam tossed a cup across the room, smashing it to pieces, "That jerk!"

Danny went ghost. His black hair turned white and his casual clothes were replaced by a black and white jumpsuit emblazoned with a stylized D. He should have felt joy that his parents were alive, as were Sam's parents and grandmother, but somehow this was worse.

Skulker grabbed Danny by the wrist and held tight.

"I never thought I would ever say this to you ghost boy, but you can't go up against Plasmius now. You'll never win; its suicide." Skulker said.

Jazz opened up the medical cooler and pulled out the vial full of blue liquid. She placed it on the table.

"We have something Vlad won't be expecting." She explained, "We have a secret weapon."

They all turned to Danny as he began to fill in the details.

"We call it plan B. It's a nanobot solution that is meant to be injected or sprayed at a ghost or half ghost, like me, which will eat away all ectoplasmic energy. For ghosts, like Skulker or Ember here, it's a death sentence." Skulker and Ember edged away from the vial, "For half ghost like me or Plasmius it will take away our ghost sides forever. Jazz has been developing it at my request. This is all that she has been able to synthesize currently but it should be enough to render Vlad powerless."

Valerie walked over to the table and carefully picked up the glass vial. "So you've been preparing for Vlad's return all this time?"

"No." Danny said lowering his head, "It was supposed to be used on me if I ever lost control of my powers again and endangered the city or if I went evil."

"Danny!" Sam said, shocked.

"I needed to make sure that if the worst came to worst you all would have something to defend yourselves with." Danny said, speaking softly, "And it was only meant to be a last case scenario, besides for whatever reason we have a weapon that will deal a final blow to Vlad."

Danny took the vial from Valerie and held it up, "This gives us our best chance to defeat Vlad once and for all."

"For all of our battles Danny Phantom," Skulker said, "If there was anyone who could save our world and yours it would be you, and there is no other man or ghost whose banner I would more proudly fly."

They all turned to Danny to hear his reply but he was already gone.

[Final thoughts: I'm kind of sad to see the experiment come to an end but I'm glad that I did it and I'm glad that you have enjoyed it so far as well. Over the last few years I've put quite a bit of effort into improving my writing and I've no illusions to how far I still need to go but with over 800 views and nearly 50 visitors per post I think that I can say that I have gotten to a good starting point and maybe it wasn't such a bad idea on my part to pursue writing. I hope that you continue to check in from time to time and I wish I had more time to devote to my projects but things are what they are. Maybe someday. Thank you again and hope see you again soon.]


	6. Chapter 6

[Author's notes: As always I want to thank you the readers for all the time of yours that you've allowed me to have. I also want to thank everyone for their words of encouragement and support, and I hope that I can live up to all of your kind words. In light of that I want to get on with the story.

Just a reminder that I don't own Danny Phantom or any related characters or materials.]

Glint of Gold

Chapter 6

"Danny?" Sam asked.

She began to roam the room with her hands out in front of her searching the room for an invisible Danny.

"Danny Fenton, you'd better be here or I'll never talk to you again!"

She collapsed in the middle of the room as she realized that she wouldn't find him. He'd left and headed for the Ghost Zone alone, heading for unbeatable odds.

"Danny why must you always be so stubborn!" She screamed forlorn at the ceiling.

Jazz threw a bag up on the couch and opened it up. She began to pull out ectoplasmic weaponry of all size and shape; some recognizable and some of unknown design or purpose.

"It's a Fenton thing," Jazz supplied and picked a few weapons for herself, "but don't forget that you still have a Fenton right here."

Valerie jumped right on her train of thought, "How do we follow him? I'm not sure about traveling to the center of all ghost activity but Danny's gonna need all the help that he can get."

Jazz thought about it for a second.

"Well, if Fenton works has been burned down the Ghost lab's security systems would have sealed it off and, while that's no problem for Danny, it blocks it off from us," Jazz replied, "So that's not good, but I think that I know where we can find another one."

Jazz looked over at Sam, "Don't worry Sam, we'll see Danny soon."

She threw Sam a weapon.

"Lock and load!"

* * *

Danny, still invisible, floated slowly through the wreckage of Fenton works: his home. The walls had begun to come down around the frame and the building barely resembled what it once had been. He floated down through the floor, past all of the defenses, and touched down in the lab. It wasn't even singed around the edges. Miscellaneous equipment and unfinished inventions littered every corner and table of the huge edifice.

Danny stepped up to the Ghost Portal and engaged the mechanism. The large doors slid open with a metallic clanging and revealed the swirling green of the portal to the Ghost Zone. Years before, he had entered this portal and accidentally activated it from the inside. It had given him his powers and started this whole strange part of his life.

Since he had revealed himself to the world he hadn't questioned them but with Vlad's return the thought had crept back. How much of what had happened in Amity Park could be placed at his booted feet? If he hadn't gained his powers would anything have been different? Realistically he knew that, at least as far as Vlad was concerned, nothing would have changed. Vlad had gained his powers before Danny was even born and his plans for global domination and revenge soon after. Still he wondered, but it was a fruitless question. Others told him that he was the solution not the problem, the ghosts were the problem, but he always saw the ghosts as a symptom and himself as the problem.

He put it aside. It wasn't an issue to be settled today and, if he managed to make it through alive, he could always come back to it. Other things were more important now.

Danny walked through the portal and entered the Ghost Zone. The vast expanse of disjointed debris and random lairs of ghosts, mostly doorways to hidden realms or uprooted landmasses, floated about in the nothingness around him. Every time he entered it he wondered where everything had come from. Had items from the 'Real' world fallen though natural gateways, or had the ghosts somehow brought everything with them? What had it been at its beginning? A universe all its own? For all its undeniable ugliness the Ghost Zone never failed to inspire awe.

Danny quickly surveyed the area around him. Inevitably there were always a few ghosts lingering around the ghost portal waiting to be let out but Danny saw none around at all. The Ghost Zone appeared to be as dead as its name implied. He floated along cautiously trying to anticipate the attack he knew was coming. Vlad knew far too much about the Fenton's Ghost Portal to let Danny just stroll in and make it all the way to him unmolested. While Vlad obviously out-matched him in pure power he wouldn't chance a last second surprise during a second battle. Unfortunately, Danny was right but he still wasn't ready for what he would find.

A blast caught him in the back and sent him tumbling farther into the Ghost Zone. He clutched desperately at the vial of 'Plan B' to keep from losing it. Righting himself just in time to dodge a second blast Danny flew in a tight circle to locate his enemy and fire a blast in return. His foe materialized and dodged Danny's first blast before he recognized the figure and was stopped dead in his tracks.

"You?" Danny asked in disbelief, and caught another blast which tossed him back again. The vial flew from his hands but he quickly retrieved it and tucked it in his boot.

"What is this; a rerun?" Danny asked his evil older self, "First Vlad return and now you?"

Dark Danny laughed and shot off a few more blasts at Danny.

"What? Not happy to see me?" Dark Danny asked, his voice (now all but a match for Danny's own) full of mirth, "Vlad set up this little reunion for us. I'm your welcome party."

Danny threw up a shield and simply deflected his evil other half's blasts, "So Plasmius sent you here to wear me down before I face him?"

Dark Danny shrugged, "More or less. I plan to kill you if it's all the same. Masters might have pulled me along for the ride but he'll never control me. Besides I had a lot of time to plan out ways to kill you while locked in that Fenton thermos at Clockwork's lair."

He turned back to the portal and obliterated it with a blast to the inside.

"And now you have nowhere to go."

So Clockwork had kept the thermos holding his dark doppelganger, Danny thought which gave him hope. If Clockwork were involved somehow in this whole mess then there must be some sort of lesson to be learned, and that gave him hope that he would at least get past this trail. He'd have to pay Clockwork a visit before he went to see Vlad to find out what he was planning.

Danny split into four and, in unison, said, "I've learned a lot sense the last time we faced each other."

"Good, I wouldn't want this fight to be too short." Dark Danny replied mimicking Danny's move.

* * *

Jazz rammed through the parameter fencing with her VW Rabbit convertible causing Sam and the two ghosts in the backseat to let out an involuntary scream. They were heading up to Vlad Masters' Amity Park mansion. After the Meteor incident and Vlad Masters' 'disappearance' the city, under Tucker's direct authority, had condemned the estate and cordoned off the property to keep out prying eyes, in the city's interest, and keep in anything Vlad might have been cooking up. There was little to worry about in the latter case as being mayor and with Danny so close by Vlad hadn't had much time to dabble in Ghost experiments or search through the Ghost Zone, but, to the former, people trying (or succeeding) to break in to the mansion (for info, souvenirs, or the like) had become such a problem at one point that they had to post a patrol car outside. Now that everything had pretty much died down the mansion lay abandoned save for the odd school-aged child on a dare or thrill seeking couple, in the same way as any other 'haunted' or 'ill-reputed' building drew.

Some had suggested that they simply tear the place down, but, while Danny and the others could say with conviction that they hated what the place stood for, having a second ghost specific lab around town couldn't be a bad thing. With the Fenton lab locked off Vlad's lab was good as gold.

Jazz pulled the car around to the side of the mansion and put it in park. Sam looked over at her puzzled.

"How do we get to the Ghost Zone from here? I mean when we get there how are we gonna get around?" Sam asked, "Weapons are great, and Valerie has her little surf board thing, but won't the two of us basically be sitting ducks?"

Jazz smiled, pulled down her visor reveling a keypad, and punched in a combination, "I've got it covered. Let's just say I've made some improvements to the specter speeder design."

All around them a transformation began. The frame dropped and bowed out, wings extended from the bottom, the wheels were replaced by jets, and the dashboard panels flipped to revel two weapon control panels, and flight controls. Jazz targeted the lower wall of the building and let out a fury of blasts that tore a hole at the base of the wall, and created a space just larger than the vehicle. Jazz slipped into the lab with ease.

She turned to Sam with a smile, "I call it the Specter Speeder Mach2."

Sam didn't know what to say. Jazz was horrible at naming things.

"Uh... catchy."

Jazz was less than thrilled, "Hey, when you build one you can name it whatever you want."

Valerie followed them in already suited up and jetted over to the portal. She looked back at the Mach2.

"How do I open this thing?"

Jazz activated an intercom system, "There's a panel to the right side of the portal. Just hit that and it will open."

Valerie hit the switch and together they made their through the portal into the Ghost Zone.

They popped out in the middle of a giant battle. Groups and individual battles were being waged simultaneously. At closer glance there were only two combatants in large amounts of multiples. Neither side gave an inch. For each defeated on one side the same was defeated on the other. Slowly the numbers dwindled until there were only two left. The two Danny's, covered in the sweat of battle, staring at each other. Their breath came in heavy gasps.

It was Danny who first saw the group in the Mach2 but the look of horror and surprise that took over his face gave away their position. Dark Danny looked back at them and an evil smile crept upon his face.

"Seems the cavalry's arrived. Too bad for them."

Danny knew what was going to happen, there was no way for him to stop it himself or move everyone out of the way. He could only think of one option. Everything seemed to go into slow motion for Danny. He slid the vial from his boot and tossed it as hard as he could at Dark Danny. As it reached the other's face Danny shot a blast through it that shattered the vial. A vapor of blue flew into Dark Danny's face and he sucked it in as he drew air for his Ghostly Wail.

The others simply saw a flash of light come from Danny followed by Dark Danny sucking in the blue cloud, and start to cough hysterically. Suddenly full of energy Danny flew over and let loose on his evil doppelganger, sending him flying off into the distance.

Danny flew over to the others and around the ship.

"Jazz, Sam, how did you get here? What are you doing here?"

Everyone (Jazz, Sam, Valerie, Skullker, and Ember) looked at him in shock, and then yelled in unison, "What did you just do?"

They looked at each other and then back at Danny. Their voices overlapped.

"Was that 'Plan B'?"

"That was the best chance we had at beating Vlad!"

"What are you doing Ghost-child?"

"You can't just waste that stuff on every enemy!"

"We don't have anymore!"

"We're screwed now!"

Danny sighed and tried to explain over the other's voices, "His Ghostly Wail would have killed you all. Don't you realize that?"

"It still might!" Ember screamed, pointing past Danny and over the shoulders of Sam and Jazz.

Dark Danny had recovered and made his way back. His cape flapped behind him and all mirth had fallen from his face. He raised his hand and it began to shimmer with energy.

"Its time I finish this once and for all." Dark Danny said charging up for a devastating blast, which fizzled out, "What's going on? What did you do to me?"

In a process that is best left un-described, but somewhat resembled both melting and implosion in equal parts, Dark Danny ceased to be. Ember phased through the side of the Mach2 and vomited.

"I thought that he was just another version of you, Danny?" Valerie asked, sounding disturbed by the sight even with all of her hate of ghosts.

"There wasn't any humanity left in him; he was all ghost." Danny replied, "Nothing left to save."

They all took a minute to regain themselves.

Danny looked back at the others, "I doubt that there's any way that I could convince you all to go back home, so there's some where we need to go before we deal with Vlad. There's someone who will help us. Follow me."

He flew off not waiting for the others.

He flew fast but not too fast to lose them. It seemed like each step that he had taken since Skullker and Ember had shown up with Vlad's message had moved him in an ever accelerating path towards the conclusion to this chapter in his life. Ever faster forward towards his final confrontation with Vlad; whatever that would mean for him. He was tired of living with the cloud that Vlad cast over his life. Though he had used 'Plan B' to stop his evil self, somehow, he still knew that there would be a way to stop Vlad once and for all. He just needed to find it, and there was one person that he could think of who would know what it was.

Clockwork's lair looked more like a hunk of Swiss cheese floating in a dark pond than anything else thanks to the 'improvement' Vlad had made when he was done with the ghost of time. The insides fared little better than the outside. Giant gears which had once spun elegant precision lay broken on the floor along with pieces of wall and ceiling. The group walked through the devastation carefully stepping over rubble and pieces of statues and ornamentation.

"Over there!" Jazz yelled rushing over to a pile of rubble that had begun to move when they got near, "Somebody help me move this stuff."

The whole group rushed over and very quickly freed Clockwork from both rubble and bonds. He stretched and held out his hand. From another pile of rubble his time scepter flew into his outstretched hand.

Clockwork looked back at the group, his face showing as little emotion as ever, "Thank you."

[Final thought: Actually I don't have much to say actually, lol. I'm already working on the next chapter and I hope to have it out soon. I'll definitely have it out before Christmas. :-)]


	7. Chapter 7

[Author's notes: So, you say the 16th and I say what about the 10th? I must say that I love a challenge. Again I'd like to thank everyone for reading so far this story has been put onto 33 peoples alert's page, which is fantastic (seriously thank you everyone), but with the volume of visits it receives there are many more who check in regularly to see if it has been updated. Thank you everyone.

Unfortunately I have come to realize, with the completion of this chapter, that Glint of Gold is almost through. It has been a blast. One heck of a ride. I might be able to squeeze two more chapters out of the story but believe me that the end will be worth it. As the timer ticks down the plot points will be wrapped up in a nice bow and I've still got one more shock left for you. So please enjoy the 7th chapter of Glint of Gold and I'll see you in the next chapter before Christmas. Will it be the conclusion? We'll just have to find out together.

I don't own Danny Phantom or related materials.]

Glint of Gold

Chapter 7

"Nothing?" Danny asked with disbelief, "You're not going to help at all?"

Clockwork went about the process of rebuilding his Hall of Time while paying little attention to Danny or the others.

"No." Clockwork replied, not even looking back.

Sam walked up and stood behind Clockwork, "But why? You've helped before and with situations less dire than this. This affects us all. It could be the end of everything that we know."

Clockwork let the huge gear that he had been floating back to its place fall to the ground with a large clang and turned to face Sam.

"I am well aware, Sam Manson, of how dire this situation is; more than you could possibly comprehend," Clockwork said looking deeply into her eyes, "But I cannot help. This is something that Danny must do, on his own, for all our sakes.

There is a power inside Danny that can defeat any foe. When we first met it was in its infancy and could easily have been destroyed, as we have all seen, but now it has begun to manifest itself and he must embrace it alone. I cannot help him in this."

Danny chuffed, "More riddles, I should have known."

"Great, another waste of time." Ember added, and turned back the way that they had come, heading for the Mach2.

Slowly the others turned to follow her. Danny waited for Sam. He took her hand, stopping her, and looked into her eyes.

"I'm sorry." Danny said emotions welling up inside, "I shouldn't have left on my own."

Sam gave him a little smile, "No, you shouldn't have, but if I got mad every time you rushed off to save the world I'd be pretty neurotic by now."

"I know." Danny said giving her a sad little smile, "I don't know where I'd be without you but I do know that I wouldn't be the person that I am today."

Sam blushed and playfully slapped his chest, "Oh stop. Now you're just embarrassing me."

"No I mean it." Danny said changing back to his human form and reaching for the box in his jeans, "This isn't the time or the place, and it definitely isn't how I planned it but God knows if I'll get another chance and I don't want to end up waiting too long again."

"What are you talking about?" Sam asked quizzically.

Danny got down on one knee and held the box aloft. It contained a single diamond engagement ring with a braided gold and platinum band that was engraved inside with a simple message: I love you Sam.

Sam would have gasped but she was having trouble drawing breath. Tears began to well up in her eyes.

"I can quip with my enemies without a problem, but I've been thinking about this for months and I'm still not sure what I should say." Danny said, nervously, "What I know is this: As long as I draw breath I will love you and as long as I love you I want to be beside you. Samantha Manson, will you fill my life, however long it maybe, with more joy than man should be allowed to know? Will you be my wife?"

Tears began to flow down Sam's cheeks and she urged him to his feet.

"I know it's not the best ring and it's not really your style" He stammered, "but when I saw it I thought of you, of us, and I ended up having just enough..."

"Shut up." She told him, laughing, crying, and grinning, "Of course. Yes, Danny, yes!"

"Yes?" Danny asked in disbelief, a grin breaking out on his face.

He kissed her, she kissed him, and they held each other laughing and crying.

Clockwork looked at the happy couple and let out a sigh that was a mixture of relief and remorse.

"Danny" He called out to them and without letting each other they looked back at Clockwork, "I have one more thing to tell you. Call it an engagement gift. Seek out the' spark of creation' within yourself and others. It will guide your destiny."

They thanked him and, after Sam slipped on the ring, the two strode away to rejoin the others, leaving Clockwork to mull over the weight of all possible realities.

Alone again in the hall of time Clockwork sighed again.

* * *

Danny and Skullker, on Valerie's flying surfboard, flew in front of the Mach 2. From inside the Mach 2 came a chorus of screams and giggles as the girls marveled over Sam's ring.

Skullker turned to Danny, his voice box was not quite repaired, and though still a bit glitchy he spoke up, "Thanks for that Ghost-boy. Now I know what I have to look forward to if we manage to make it through this alive."

Danny laughed, "I guess you won't be throwing me a bachelor party then?"

Skullker thought it over, "Maybe, but I will be using you to blow off steam when I've heard 'but the Ghost-boy and the Goth-girl are getting married' for the 700th time."

Danny laughed again, "Deal."

Despite Vlad, despite the capture of their parents, despite everything, he was happy to the point of being giddy, and he didn't care if it was inappropriate or inconvenient because his mind was clear for the first time in days and he knew where to find Vlad. No need for an extensive search or tracking down someone to take them to Vlad and the exhaustive battles that would follow. They could jump straight to the boss battle even though Vlad was sure to have surrounded himself with foot soldiers loyal to his cause. Still the sooner ended the better.

Skullker looked back at the Mach 2 and saw that Ember was busy studying Sam's ring. Dismayed he turned back to Danny.

"So, what do we do now?" Skullker asked, suddenly restless and ready for battle again.

Danny replied without hesitation, "We take the fight to Vlad."

"And where will he be? How are we going to find him?"

Danny looked at Skullker with confidence, "Where else could he be? We head for the lair of the Ghost King."

* * *

He couldn't help but be reminded of the last time he had made a raid on the lair of the Ghost King. The circumstances had been similar, Amity Park and his family's safety in the balance, but more than that was the amount of ghost activity around the lair. An army of ghosts, all ready to do Vlad's bidding, stood watch outside of the massive castle and all of the way up to the gates. Inside the new self-styled Ghost King, Vlad Masters, waited to finish Danny off.

Last time he had used equipment to boost his power level in order to get through to the Ghost King and defeat him, but his current power level was well above even that mark and he was confident that it would work out.

The Mach 2, guns blazing, did a bombing raid as Danny and Skullker dropped into the thick of a group of ghosts. Danny immediately split into four and began to decimate the ghost army ranks in separate directions. Eventually they had opened up a space large enough for the Mach 2 to land in after its third bombing run. The girls piled out armed to the teeth and firing into the group of enemies in front of them while Danny and Skullker played defense, keeping the area around them clear. Together they made their way to the castle gates which lay open before them; inviting them to enter. The main hallway was empty so the girls turned around and fired at the mass of ghosts that followed them while Danny and Skullker managed to close the massive doors.

They took a moment to catch their breath.

Ember expelled a lungful of air as she wiped sweat from her brow, "Oh my god, its so much easier being the bad guy!"

Valerie laughed; she'd never spent this much time with ghosts that didn't involve battling them. She was beginning to understand why Danny had a problem with her style of ghost fighting. She hadn't thought that talking to them might even be an option, but in the car, all of them marveling over Sam's ring, she had seen Ember as just another girl. Even though she had seen Ember at her worst and she was one of Danny's worst ghostly enemies, but Ember even went so far as to offer to play at Danny and Sam's wedding. Maybe when she returned to her life in Wisconsin she'd try talking to the ghosts, or at least some of them.

Just as they had finally caught their breath their shadows suddenly darkened and then reached up to trap them. Johnny 13's pet unlucky shadow fully formed around them drawing Skullker and the girls together but keeping Danny separate. It smiled a toothy grin at Danny who struggled to no avail.

"I wouldn't try your little glowing trick if I were you, Danny." Johnny 13 said from where he leaned on a nearby pillar, "Did you happen to notice this hallway is lit only by torchlight? Shadow's more powerful the darker it is and even if you are able to get free he'll squash your friends before you can stop him, little buddy."

Danny stopped struggling, but the golden glow had returned to his eyes, "Johnny? You're working for Vlad? Why? Don't you realize he'll destroy both our worlds?"

Johnny 13 kicked off of the pillar and shrugged. He walked up to Danny and threw back his hair.

"It's like Ember said, 'It's easier being the bad guy'. Now let's not keep the boss waiting."

Johnny 13 set off, his pet shadow unceremoniously dragging them along, heading for the throne room. Two ghostly traitors opened the large doors in front of them and ushered them in, closing the doors behind them. Vlad sat center stage in a crudely fashioned throne. He looked too comfortable in it, and Maddy Fenton and Mrs. Manson were chained to the foot of the throne like trophy slaves of a barbarian king. Danny and Sam's fathers were chained to the sarcophagus of the Ghost King behind Vlad. Jack Fenton was the worse for wear. His clothing was torn and his face looked as if it someone had taken a rusty cheese grater to it.

"Mom! Dad!" Sam screamed, struggling to get out of the shadow's grasp, "What have you done to them Vlad!"

"Sam?" Mrs. Manson asked, terrified to see her daughter in what she had become convinced was the pit of Hell.

Maddy Fenton strained against her chains trying desperately to get to her children.

"Danny, Jazz!" Maddy pulled madly at her chains, "Let them go Vlad!"

"Mom!" Jazz yelled.

"Mom, is Dad okay?" Danny asked.

Jack Fenton raised his head, "I could really go for a ham."

Jazz smiled, "At least Dad's okay."

Vlad stood and looked down at them.

"Yes, your idiot father is fine for now," Vlad explained, his self satisfied grin maddening, "That will soon change for you all though."

Danny struggled against the shadow, "You wanted me Vlad and now you have me. Let the others go!"

Vlad laughed, "Oh, my dear boy, I didn't want you. I wanted you out of the way. I'm afraid you've got it all wrong.

Now that I have you though I can't help but remember all of the trouble you've caused me over the years, and I think I might want to play with you a little, or better yet..."

Vlad turned to the others and continued, "I might just play with them while you watch."

"No!" Danny screamed as he continued to struggle.

Vlad gestured and the shadow slid its tail around everyone but Sam and separated her from the others. Sam looked at Danny with terror in her eyes.

"I think I'll start with your little Goth girl." Vlad laughed evilly pointing a hand at Sam.

"NO!" Danny screamed, breaking through the shadow just as fire began to erupt from Vlad's outstretched hand heading straight for Sam.

Again it seemed as if time had slowed for Danny and he rushed in front of Sam. No time to shield them he would take the blast for her. He would save her by taking her place. He closed his eyes and let his love for Sam be the only thing that mattered to him at that moment. He was enveloped in a warm peaceful calm that spread out from his very core. He embraced the warmth and let it fill him as he waited for Vlad's final, killing blow.

It didn't come and Danny opened his eyes.

Time hadn't simply seemed to have slowed for him; it had actually stopped all together. The flames lay less than six inches in front of him, frozen in mid-air as was everything else.

"I was beginning to wonder if you'd ever show up." Said the voice of a man from somewhere to the side of Danny.

Danny stared at the man. He was obviously someone who was use to hard labor, short and stocky with close cropped hair over a lined but not unpleasant or hard face. He was wearing a flannel shirt over jeans but his feet were bare and everywhere his bare feet touched, as he walked over to Danny with no sense of urgency or hurry, was replaced by a spreading white void.

Danny looked around himself and at the man, asking, "What's going on? What's happening?"

The man smiled pleasantly, in a grandfatherly way, and stuffed his large hands in his pockets.

"What's happening is that you've passed into a higher plane of existence." The man told Danny.

Danny looked at the man and asked, "Am I dead?"

The man ran a hand, laughing, through the flames in front of Danny and they disappeared along with Vlad and the others.

"No, you're not dead." The man assured him, "I've been waiting for you to show up so I can help you to get back and repay you for all the help you've given me."

Danny looked at the unknown man puzzled, "What help have I given you? I've never met you before."

"Sure you have." The man said.

The looked at Danny, laughed and shook his head.

"You really don't recognize me, do you?" the man asked.

Danny shook his head.

The man laughed again.

"Okay, but I really didn't want to have to do this." The man said with a grin as he raised his hands above his head, "Beware!"

[Final thoughts: As I finished this chapter I thought to myself of how close to the end of the story I was getting and it made me kind of sad. I've enjoyed the time that I have had with you, dear reader, and I can't say that I want that to end but it wouldn't be fair to you to just let this drag out for forever. You deserve to see this through to the end, and while I know that I can always write other stories, this experience has been utterly fulfilling and, even though I might see you all on another fic, nothing is ever quite as good as the first time. Thank you all for this wonderful experience and all of your beautiful words of encouragement.

If you enjoy Glint of Gold please check out some of my other fics: A New Beginning, Once, and Henchman: the Revenge of 21.

Also be on the lookout for my novel Gaia Rebirth hopefully to be released at the beginning of the year.

Thank you]


	8. Chapter 8

(Author's notes: I tried to make the Monday deadline but things got a little out of hand at work and even though I had in fact finished writing the chapter with time to spare the typing took much more time to complete than anticipated, but I have finished before Christmas as I promised. Again, especially as this is the last chapter, I want to thank everyone for reading and hope that you enjoy the ending just as much as the beginning. I ended the last chapter with a surprise and I continue on from that point, but as I promised I have one major surprise left for you. So, please, enjoy, read, and review the final chapter of Glint of Gold.

For the last time in this fic; I do not own the rights to Danny Phantom or related characters and properties. )

Glint of Gold

Chapter 8

If there had been anything to sit on in the white void Danny would have sat down on it.

"You're the Box Ghost?" Danny asked incredulously.

The man laughed, "Well, not anymore."

Danny blinked, "But they said Vlad killed you."

"He tried to," The man said thoughtfully, "but you can't really kill a ghost. I mean, ghosts are already dead so under normal circumstances I would have simply returned to the Ghost zone. The thing is that ghosts are made when people, or in some cases animals, have something that keeps them attached to the material plane. Emotion is the most common cause. Its what creates us and what fuels our powers. For Skullker it was his inadequacy, for Ember it was lust for fame, and for me it was anger. I worked for a moving company hauling boxes and it sucked away at my life. It made me so angry, so much so that I couldn't let it go even in death, and that anger made me the Box Ghost."

He looked at Danny, "That's where you and Vlad are different than other ghosts. It wasn't your drives that made you the way that you are, like they did with Skullker, Ember, myself, or even the Ghost King, but they do fuel you. Vlad's drives are self centered (revenge, lust, greed) and thus he has begun to become like many of the ghostly enemies that you have faced before. His humanity has been dwindling away to nearly nothing. The emotions that fuel him are negative and that gives him powers far beyond that of men. You, on the other hand, are driven by self sacrifice, love and determination. There's never been a ghost quite like you.

Think back to all the enemies that you have faced and all of the ghosts that you have met. How many have been driven by something other than selfish drives? None, I would imagine. People like you, Danny, have nothing to keep them connected to the material world when they pass. They simply pass on, without anger or regret. They come here to this higher plane in the end and from here pass on to whatever there is that lies beyond here. It was only a matter of time before you ended up here yourself. Honestly I'm surprised you even came to our Ghost Realm at all."

Danny stopped standing, simply floating in the void, and tried to process what he was being told.

He looked back at the man who had once been the Box Ghost and asked, "So, what does all of that mean for me?"

"I wish I could tell you that but I really don't know for sure." The man chuckled, continuing, "But I do know a few things. This realm is directly tuned to the spark of humanity or spark of creation that is within us all, and there is something in you that is like it. You can affect that spark within others, like you did with me, and tap into that part of yourself, otherwise you wouldn't be here.

You see, its because of you that I'm here now. My anger at the job that stole away and squandered my life, or so I had thought, made me what I was but you gave me something else to focus on. Sure, for awhile you used me as a helpful meat sack to relieve your teenage aggression, but as we both matured ours became a game of cat and mouse. It was fun, and I honestly enjoyed it. Finally there was something fulfilling in my life.

I hadn't even realized that I had completely let go of my anger until I saw you battling Vlad. I'd just been hanging around and waiting for the next chase, not even wanting to perform any mischief, when I heard the commotion and went to investigate. I saw you protecting your girlfriend and her grandmother, and for the first time in a long time I felt human again. I knew I had to help. So when Vlad attacked me after you were able to get away and I knew that you had gotten to safety I wasn't afraid. I was calm; at peace.

The spark that I had all but lost had returned and I ended up here."

The man smiled and poked Danny in the chest, causing him to float back a short way, and continued, "Haven't you ever wondered why there's so much ghost activity around you?"

Danny hugged his legs to his chest and answered quietly, "It's because of me."

The man stuffed his hands back into his pockets and tilted his head to the side for a second before saying, "Well, kinda, but not in the way that you're thinking. You're not summoning the ghost to you or anything, but the spark within you is so bright and inviting that it attracts us like moths to a flame. Its what we're all missing. Our lost humanity or that touch of creation.

Sure, if it hadn't been for your accident you wouldn't have been as visible to us but you still would have been a young man full of promise with occasional paranormal experiences.

What I'm saying is: its not your fault, but how you've dealt with it has made you stronger and we're all better for it."

"Okay I get it, stop beating myself up because I'm doing good." Danny said letting go of his legs, "This is starting to get embarrassing."

The man opened his arms wide with a grin, "Want a hug?"

"No." Danny said chuckling, "but I think I get it. So you're saying that this spark within me allows me to withstand the drives that have made Vlad more ghost-like and can help me to lead ghosts to peace."

"Something like that."

"So, kind of like a new power?" Danny asked.

"If you want to think of it that way, I guess you could say that." The man replied, "But its also far more than that, and it makes you unique."

"So, what do I do with this spark?" Danny asked.

"At the risk of sounding mysterious; first you must learn to see." The man told him.

Danny scrutinized the man but all he saw was only what he had seen before; a more than middle aged man with close cropped hair.

"I've got nothing." Danny said finally.

"Clear your mind then think of something that fills you with peace, and let that feeling of warmth embrace you," The man said, "then you'll stop looking and see."

Danny closed his eyes and thought of Sam's smile. It had been the first night that they had spent alone in Sam's apartment. They had fallen asleep while watching old movies on the couch, mostly from exhaustion, with Sam laying on-top of him. When they finally woke up, Danny first, Sam looked up at him with her sleep-filled eyes. A warmth grew at the core of him and he grabbed hold of it. He wrapped himself in the feeling and opened his eyes. Looking back at the man who had been the Box Ghost, Danny saw a glimmer of light at the man's chest that grew out and bloomed into an almost star bright ball of energy that pulsed with tinges of rose and yellow as the man began to laugh. It was the most beautiful thing that Danny had ever seen.

"You see it, don't you?" The man asked, chuckling, "The first time is an amazing experience. I just wish that you could see what I'm seeing."

"Is that the spark? It's so big and bright." Danny said, amazed, "It's like you're made of light."

The man put a hand on Danny's shoulder, "Now you're ready . You'll know what to do."

Danny shook his head and stared the man in the face.

"Wait, what?" Danny asked, "You're leaving?"

"Well, yeah." The man said, a hint of sadness in his eyes, "It's time for me to head on to what ever comes next. You have everything you need, and the rest is up to you."

"Everything except for two things," Danny told him, "For one you never told me how I get out of here."

"That's easy, especially for you," The man explained, "This place is like a gateway to every realm of existence, all that have to do is focus on where you want to go and there you will be, but you and Sam carry a piece of each other, which is a touching sentiment, but has a far more literal meaning here. Just focus on her and you will end up where ever she is."

The man cocked an eyebrow quizzically, "What was the other thing?"

"Your name." Danny answered, "You never told me your name."

The man chuckled, "Doug, my name is Doug."

Danny gave Doug a hug and thanked him.

"If I had a son I'd be proud if he were like you, Danny." Doug said embracing the young man tightly.

They separated and Doug began to walk away. He threw back a wave at Danny as he began to fade as everything else had in the white void.

"See you later Danny." Doug said before he faded away into nothing.

"I hope so." Danny replied to himself.

Alone again in the void Danny focused his thoughts on Sam. The warm feeling returned and he rode on it until he felt a small piece of him tugging at the whole. He went with it and Danny felt reality shift under him while light surrounded him and engulfed him as he emerged back into the exact moment in which he had left.

As strange as it was for Danny it was far stranger for the others as they watched. Danny had escaped the clutches of the shadow and flew lighting fast in-front of the fire heading for Sam. Danny's screams, Sam's screams, their parent's screams, and those of the others mingled with Vlad's laughter to form a incomprehensible mass of sound, but all of a sudden Danny expected in a silent blast of light. As they groggily regained their sight they expected the worst but what they saw was even more surprising. Jazz, Valerie, Skullker, and Ember picked themselves up off the ground from where they had been dumped when Johnny 13's shadow had disintegrated. Johnny 13 had been knocked by something and lay a few feet away on the ground himself. Sam stood and stared at Danny in awe. He slowly floated down to where she stood.

"Sam, are you okay?" Danny asked with concern. Unlike when he had been in the void with Doug, Danny saw into Sam without trying. She emanated light from her in tendrils of different shades. Mostly rose colored and daisy colored light but with occasional beams of a worried cloudy blue.

"Danny?" Valerie asked, and he turned to the others. They also stared at him with surprise and awe. Not sure what they were looking at Danny looked at himself. What he saw surprised him as much as any of the others but he didn't get the full effect. What the others saw was far more than he ever could.

Danny's hair floated around his head in luminous strands that were like fibers of optical cable trapped in water. His jumpsuit hadn't changed exactly but where there had been white now seemed to be composed of pure light and the black of his outfit contained a vastness filled with stars as if a cosmos had been trapped inside. The most incredible change was in his eyes. Golden light poured from both of his sockets obscuring both pupil and iris. In effect the whole of his eyes had seemed to have been replaced by the light pouring from them.

"What happened to me?" Danny pondered aloud as he looked at his light filled hands.

"Nothing that you'll have the time to figure out," Vlad said from over his shoulder, "Don't forget that you're in the middle of a battle, Danny. People get hurt that way. Now let's try this again."

Vlad split into three and sent a huge wave of flame at Valerie, Skullker, and Ember. Valerie covered as best she could and Skullker grabbed Ember, putting her behind him.

Danny threw out a hand, "No."

The flames split around the others as they hit an unseen ghost shield that Danny had made on sheer instinct. Frustrated one of the Vlad duplicates turned and sent flames at Sam and Danny's fathers. Again Danny outstretched a hand and the flames parted over an unseen ghost shield. He was maintaining three full shields without even trying and against the full force of Vlad's rage born tempest.

Meanwhile Jazz managed to sneak, unnoticed, up to Vlad's throne and managed to release Maddy Fenton and Mrs. Manson from the chains that bound them. Mrs. Manson, with the help from Jazz, was making her way to Sam, but Maddy stayed behind. Using the chain Vlad had used on her she lassoed the Vlad duplicate that was trying to attack Jack Fenton and Mr. Manson, and flung him into the two others.

"Leave my husband alone!" She yelled at the pile of Vlads.

Vlad turned to her, watching her scurry over to the Fathers in order to release them. His whole plan was falling to pieces around him. Nothing in this was right. Danny shouldn't be powerful enough to defeat him. He'd taken over the Ghost Zone and now some regular humans and the Whelp were treating him like he were as easily defeatable as any of his second rate enemies. A growl welled up from within and he stood, again one person, and focused on Maddy and Jack.

"If that's how you feel then share his fate Maddy!" Vlad yelled in outrage.

Danny flew into him at incalculable speed and sent him flying into a wall, which exploded under him with a cloud of dust and debris.

Danny smirked, "Don't forget who you're fighting, Vlad."

"Oh, I haven't forgotten you, Danny." Vlad scowled as he climbed out of the wall and flew straight at Danny.

Though flying at top speed as he got closer to Danny he slowed as Danny allowed himself to once again slide part of the way out of time, this time on purpose. He maneuvered around Vlad and blasted him down into the ground.

Growling and wiping some blood from his face Vlad crawled from a hole in the ground.

"You can't do this to me." Vlad said, firing at Danny and flying up to meet him in the air. Danny deflected the blast single-handed.

Vlad shook with rage, "You can't win Danny Fenton!"

Danny let the warmth and calm flow through and fill him, and looked deep within Vlad. He missed it the first time, but he finally saw it. Deep red and barely a shaft of light, Danny made out the spark of humanity in Vlad. Danny took a chance on a thought that had passed through his head out of nowhere. Quickly reaching top speed and beyond Danny flew straight for Vlad using the feeling of calm to guide him toward Vlad's spark. Danny became a streak; an arrow of light.

Barely a blur, Danny went through Vlad, his eyes widening with surprise, leaving a hole in the middle of his chest. Danny touched down on the other side of Vlad and, still wide-eyed with surprise, Vlad turned around to look at him. Vlad looked down at the gaping hole in his chest, and then at Danny who stood over a naked and shivering Vlad Masters. Vlad Plasmius split with a silent scream as his form was violently pulled into the hole in his chest until nothing more remained of him.

While everyone else was left wondering what they had just witnessed Sam made her way over to Danny. He opened his arms to embrace her and she rushed over to him, but she passed right through him.

"That wasn't funny, Danny." Sam said, hurt.

"I'm sorry, Sam," Danny said looking down at himself, "but that wasn't intentional."

"Well, then, change back." Sam pleaded, "I want you to hold me."

Danny looked back at her with concern, "I'm not sure that I can."

-End of Glint of Gold-

[Final thoughts: I know that I left a cliffhanger ending and I hope that I have not upset anyone in doing so but this is how the story ends. Beyond this is an uncharted and new chapter in the life of Danny Phantom. Glint of Gold was about the realization for Danny that there is so much more potential in him than simply fighting ghosts and what I saw as the next logical progression in his evolution. It has always been the argument that a superhero's ultimate duty is to make himself obsolete but where as Superman or Batman will never be able to do this Danny actually has a chance to attempt this feat being in that his enemies are displaced spirits. I feel that there is far more to the Ghost Zone and Danny himself that hasn't even been touched on and I will probably tackle more in the future but for now it is at stands.

I also want to pose this challenge to those who have read this fic and those that write their own. Continue with this, fill in the gaps you might see, and build upon what I have started with your own work. I know that I'd love to see what you can come up with and I'm sure that others would too. This piece was a leap of faith for me and I loved doing it. I've gotten great feedback and I appreciate the time that you have all given me. I hope that you have enjoyed the final chapter of Glint of Gold and I hope that you will enjoy the next installment when I am able to get around to it.

dlb]


	9. Epilogue

Epilogue

Tucker held up Danny's photo to reporters as tears streamed down his cheeks, Sam took off her engagement ring and tossed it into a lake, Valerie lay dead in the remains of what was once Vlad's mansion as an ancient evil broke through from the Ghost Zone, Dani stood with Ember and Skullker as they readied themselves for battle, and other images flashed upon the screen as Clockwork scanned the possible futures. All, some, or none of what he was seeing might come to pass but it was all connected to Danny and that time-line was locked off to even him. For the first time in centuries even the master of time was unsure of what the future would bring. Clockwork hoped that Danny would be up to the task.

What he could divine was simple. The next big event would start with the eyes of a mad man.

In a cold prison cell far back in the Amity Park Police station, dressed in an orange jumpsuit and shivering in a corner, Vlad Masters repeated a single phrase like a demented mantra.

"You'll never defeat me."

[Final thoughts: I wanted to add a little something before I close this story out to let you all know that I do in fact plan to continue this in farther volumes. I had set out to tell a simple story to advance the Danny Phantom mythos but it has become more than I ever thought. I'm not quite sure what happens next, much like Clockwork, but I have a few ideas and a few places that I want to go with this but I need some time to develop them, which is why I have temporarily turned it over to the Fanfiction community for the time being, and I am frankly curious what thoughts might be floating out there about what has already been laid out.

I don't own Danny Phantom or related properties.]


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